SolarWinds
®
Server & Application Monitor
Quick Start Guide
SERVER & APPLICATION MONITOR
Copyright© 1995-2012 SolarWinds, Inc. all rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document
may be reproduced by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or
distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means without the
written consent of SolarWinds All right, title and interest in and to the software and
documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its licensors.
SolarWinds®, the SolarWinds logo, ipMonitor®, LANsurveyor®, and Orion® are among the
trademarks or registered trademarks of the company in the United States and/or other countries.
All other trademarks contained in this document and in the Software are the property of their
respective owners.
SOLARWINDS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND
DOCUMENTATION FURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE
WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS, ITS
SUPPLIERS OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN
TORT, CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF SOLARWINDS HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Microsoft®, Windows 2000 Server®, Windows 2003 Server®, and Windows 2008 Server® are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
Graph Layout Toolkit and Graph Editor Toolkit © 1992 - 2001 Tom Sawyer Software, Oakland,
California. All Rights Reserved.
Portions Copyright © ComponentOne, LLC 1991-2002. All Rights Reserved.
Server & Application Monitor Quick Start Guide, 3.01.2012, version 5.0
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Quick Start Guide
About SolarWinds
SolarWinds, Inc develops and markets an array of network management, monitoring, and
discovery tools to meet the diverse requirements of today’s network management and consulting
professionals. SolarWinds products continue to set benchmarks for quality and performance and
have positioned the company as the leader in network management and discovery technology.
The SolarWinds customer base includes over 45 percent of the Fortune 500 and customers from
over 90 countries. Our global business partner distributor network exceeds 100 distributors and
resellers.
Contacting SolarWinds
You can contact SolarWinds in a number of ways, including the following:
Team
Sales
Technical Support
User Forums
Contact Information
[email protected]
www.solarwinds.com
1.866.530.8100
+353.21.5002900
www.solarwinds.com/support
www.thwack.com
Conventions
The documentation uses consistent conventions to help you identify items throughout the printed
and online library.
Convention
Bold
Italics
Fixed font
Straight brackets, as in
[value]
Curly braces, as in
{value}
Logical OR, as in
value1|value2
Specifying
Window items, including buttons and fields.
Book and CD titles, variable names, new terms
File and directory names, commands and code
examples, text typed by you
Optional command parameters
Required command parameters
Exclusive command parameters where only one of the
options can be specified
About SolarWinds  iii
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Server & Application Monitor Documentation Library
The following documents are included in the SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM)
documentation library:
Document
Administrator Guide
Evaluation Guide
Page Help
Quick Start Guide
Release Notes
Purpose
Provides detailed setup, configuration, and conceptual
information for SAM.
Provides an introduction to Server & Application Monitor
features and instructions for installation and initial
configuration.
Provides help for every window in the Server & Application
Monitor user interface
Provides installation, setup, and common scenarios for
which SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor provides a
simple, yet powerful, solution.
Provides late-breaking information, known issues, and
updates. The latest Release Notes can be found at
www.solarwinds.com.
iv  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Documentation Library
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Quick Start Guide
Contents
About SolarWinds ........................................................................................... iii
Contacting SolarWinds ................................................................................... iii
Conventions .................................................................................................... iii
Server & Application Monitor Documentation Library ..................................... iv
Chapter 1
Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
Why Install SolarWinds SAM ........................................................................... 1
Benefits of SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor .......................... 2
Key Features of Server & Application Monitor ............................................ 2
Networking Concepts and Terminology........................................................... 7
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ................................................. 7
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) ......................................... 8
SNMP Credentials ....................................................................................... 8
How SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor Works ........................... 10
Chapter 2
Installing Server & Application Monitor .................................................... 13
Licensing Server & Application Monitor ......................................................... 13
SAM Requirements........................................................................................ 14
SAM Server Software Requirements ........................................................ 14
SAM Server Hardware Requirements ....................................................... 14
Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers ...................................... 15
SAM Database Server Requirements (SQL Server) ................................. 15
Additional SAM Requirements .................................................................. 17
Server Sizing ................................................................................................. 17
SNMP Requirements for Monitored Devices ................................................. 18
Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) .................................. 19
Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP ......................... 19
Enabling IIS on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 ...................... 20
Enabling IIS on Windows 7 ....................................................................... 21
Installing Server & Application Monitor .......................................................... 21
Completing an SAM Installation ................................................................ 21
Software License Key ............................................................................... 24
Contents  v
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Completing the SAM Configuration Wizard .............................................. 25
Upgrading Server & Application Monitor ....................................................... 27
Upgrading an Evaluation License ................................................................. 29
Maintaining Licenses with License Manager ................................................ 30
Installing License Manager ....................................................................... 31
Using License Manager ............................................................................ 31
Chapter 3
Getting Started with SAM ........................................................................... 33
Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard ................................... 33
Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard ..................................................... 38
Using the Application Discovery Wizard ....................................................... 39
Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File ................................................. 41
Managing Scheduled Discovery Results ...................................................... 42
Using the Discovery Ignore List .................................................................... 43
Using the Web Console Notification Bar ....................................................... 44
Navigating the SAM Web Console ................................................................ 45
Using Web Console Tabs ......................................................................... 45
Using Web Console Breadcrumbs ........................................................... 46
Configuring the SAM Web Console .............................................................. 46
Logging in for the First Time as an Administrator ..................................... 47
Changing an Account Password .............................................................. 47
Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console ............................................... 48
Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console ................................. 48
Deleting Devices from Monitoring ............................................................. 51
Editing Device Properties ......................................................................... 52
Viewing Node Resources ......................................................................... 53
Setting Device Management States ......................................................... 53
Viewing Node and Application Data in Tooltips ........................................ 55
Adding Views to the Admin Toolbar .............................................................. 55
Chapter 4
Using Server & Application Monitor ......................................................... 57
Common SAM Monitoring Scenarios ............................................................ 57
Creating Custom SAM Reports ..................................................................... 61
vi  Contents
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Quick Start Guide
Preview Mode............................................................................................ 62
Design Mode ............................................................................................. 62
Creating and Modifying Reports ................................................................ 63
Customizing the Header and Footer Image .............................................. 67
Example of Report Creation ...................................................................... 68
Using SAM Alerts ........................................................................................... 70
Configuring SAM Alerts ............................................................................. 71
Viewing Alerts in the SAM Web Console .................................................. 78
Additional SAM Features ............................................................................... 81
New VMware Template and Wizard.......................................................... 81
New / Updated Component Monitors ........................................................ 81
Using Maps in SAM ................................................................................... 81
Monitoring VMware ESX Servers.............................................................. 82
Using Custom Properties in SAM .............................................................. 82
Using Groups and Dependencies in SAM ................................................ 82
Using SNMP Traps in SAM ....................................................................... 82
Using Syslog Messaging in SAM .............................................................. 83
Chapter 5
Monitoring Your Network with SAM .......................................................... 85
Monitoring Network Performance .................................................................. 85
Viewing Node and Application Charts and Gauges .................................. 86
Viewing Network Performance Reports .................................................... 87
Managing Your Servers ................................................................................. 88
Viewing Server Management Charts and Reports .................................... 88
Diagnosing Network Availability .................................................................... 89
Viewing Network Availability Charts and Reports ..................................... 89
Configuring Key Network Availability Alerts .............................................. 90
Analyzing Usage Trends ............................................................................... 91
Viewing Useful Node Trend Resources .................................................... 91
Viewing Useful Volume Capacity Resources ............................................ 92
Viewing Useful Application and Component Resources ........................... 93
Contents  vii
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
viii  Contents
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Chapter 1
Introduction
Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers comprehensive monitoring, alerting,
and reporting capabilities to applications and servers that scale with rapid
network growth and expand with your application monitoring needs. SAM
successfully offers you a simple-to-use, scalable application monitoring solution
for IT professionals juggling any size network.
Users find that it does not take a team of consultants and months of unpleasant
surprises to get SAM up and running because the SAM experience is far more
intuitive than conventional, complex enterprise application monitoring systems.
Because it can take less than an hour to deploy and no consultants are needed,
SAM provides quick and cost effective visibility into the health of servers and
applications on your network, ensuring that you have the real time information
you need to keep your systems running at peak performance.
Why Install SolarWinds SAM
SAM monitors the following critical performance metrics for applications and
nodes on your network:

Application Availability

Component Availability

CPU and memory utilization

Node and volume status

Volume usage
These monitoring capabilities, along with a fully customizable web-based
interface, alerting, reporting engines, and flexible expansion capabilities, make
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor the easiest choice you will make
involving your application performance monitoring needs.
Introduction  1
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Benefits of SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor
Consider the following benefits of SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor.
Out-of-the-box Productivity
Automatic discovery and wizard-driven configuration offer an immediate
return on your investment. Within minutes of installing SAM, you can be
monitoring your critical applications.
Easy to Understand and Use
SAM is designed for daily use by staff that also have other responsibilities.
The SAM interface provides what you need where you expect to find it and
offers advanced capabilities with minimal configuration overhead.
Affordable Value
While SAM provides functionality that is comparable, if not superior, to most
other solutions, the cost and maintenance of your SAM installation is less
than the initial cost of most other solutions.
Scalability
By adding individual polling engines, you can scale your SAM installation to
any environment size. By sharing the same database, you can also share a
unified user interface, making the addition of polling engines transparent to
your staff.
thwack.com Online Community
thwack.com is a community site that SolarWinds developed to provide
SolarWinds users and the broader networking community with useful
information, tools and valuable resources related to SolarWinds network and
application monitoring solutions. Resources that allow you both to see recent
posts and to search all posts are available from the Web Console, providing
direct access to the thwack.com community.
Key Features of Server & Application Monitor
Considering the previously listed benefits of SAM and the following features,
SAM is a simple choice to make.
Application Dashboards
Get immediate visibility into the health of critical applications with out-of-thebox dashboards for Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange, SQL Server, IIS,
Windows, and Linux, or easily create your own for other applications. Filter
summary views by application and create custom dashboards that contain
exactly the applications and nodes you want to see.
2  Introduction
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Community Content Sync
Search, deploy, and share user-generated templates and scripts – without
ever leaving the product! SAM’s interactive web console allows users to
browse, download, and share templates and scripts from directly within the
product, making it easy for community members to benefit from each other’s
custom monitors and saving everyone valuable time.
User-Experience Monitors
Measure performance from an end-user's perspective using out-of-the-box
SaaS monitoring and support for HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, SQL Server, Oracle®,
and more. This Quality of Experience (QoE) measurement gives you a heads
up on problems and helps ensure that your users are happy with the
performance of the applications that they rely on.
Hardware Health Monitors
Measure the health of virtually all aspects of your hardware including, Hard
drive status, battery status, array status, array controller status, power supply
status, fan status, chassis intrusion status, chassis temperature and/or
status, chassis fan speed and/or status, CPU temperature and/or status,
CPU fan speed and/or status, memory module status, voltage regulator
status and machine serial number..
Dynamic Templates
SAM saves you time and eliminates repetitive configuration tasks by
employing centralized Application Monitor Templates that combine groups of
monitors and settings. Apply changes to templates across multiple monitors
in an instant; start from standard templates, create your own, or leverage
community-generated content.
Shareable Application Views
Customize the way charts, gauges, and tables are associated with
component monitors to view application performance data the way you want
to see it, and share custom application views with other IT professionals.
Application Discovery Engine
Automatically scan servers on the network, discover your applications, and
assign templates to start monitoring in minutes. Spend less time configuring
your monitoring solution and more time optimizing your application
performance.
Universal WMI Performance Counters
Easily add and remotely monitor any WMI performance counters to identify
and resolve application issues before users are impacted.
Introduction  3
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Windows Performance Counters
Easily add and remotely monitor native Windows performance counters to
identify and resolve application issues before users are impacted.
Windows Service Monitor and Process Monitor – WMI
Use the Windows Service Monitor and Process Monitor – WMI to monitor
important Windows services and processes via your choice of WMI or RPC
communications.
Windows and Linux Script Monitors
Leverage SAM to schedule, run, report, and receive alerts on your own
custom Windows, Linux, or UNIX scripts.
Windows Event Log Monitor
Monitor log files and receive alerts when important events occur on your
Windows servers.
Network Services and Port Monitoring
Monitor availability and responsiveness of critical network services with outof-the-box monitors for DNS, IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, and NNTP.
Performance Warning System
Stay informed about imminent or potential failures when pre-configured or
user-defined performance thresholds are crossed.
Advanced Application Alerting
Quickly configure alerts for correlated events, sustained conditions, and
complex combinations of device states.
Customizable and Flexible Web Console
Detailed graphs, tables, and lists are displayed in a fully customizable
web-based interface allowing you to remotely view application fault,
availability, and performance information. Using the award-winning, intuitive
web interface, you can conduct administrative tasks, such as adding new
nodes and applications, both individually and in groups, creating custom
resources and views, establishing unique user accounts and views for
departments, geographic areas, or any other user-defined criteria, and
customizing web console displays from anywhere on your network. These
features allow you to save time by administering SAM tasks remotely without
having to open a Remote Desktop Connection directly to the SAM server.
4  Introduction
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Automatic and Scheduled Device Discovery
Wizard-driven node and application discovery further simplifies the addition
of nodes and applications to SAM. Answer a few general questions about
your nodes and applications, and the discovery application takes over,
populating SAM and immediately beginning monitoring. You can also create
network discovery schedules to independently and automatically run Network
Sonar Discovery jobs whenever you need them.
Intuitive SAM Administration
Using the award-winning, intuitive SAM web interface, you can now conduct
administrative tasks, such as adding new nodes and applications, both
individually and in groups, establishing unique user accounts, and
customizing web console displays from anywhere on your network. These
administration features allow you to save time by administering SAM tasks
remotely without having to open a Remote Desktop Connection directly to
the SAM server.
Open Integration
Enterprise-tested standards, including a Microsoft® SQL Server database
and industry-standard MIBs and protocols, are the backbone of the SAM
network monitoring solution.
Network Atlas with ConnectNow
Network Atlas, the network mapping application, gives you the ability to
create multi-layered, fully customizable, web-based maps of your network to
visually track the performance of any device in any location across your
network in real time. The ConnectNow feature automatically draws links
between directly-connected physical nodes discovered on your network.
VMware Infrastructure Monitoring
SAM enables you to monitor your VMware servers, datacenters, and
clusters, including VMware ESX and ESXi, Virtual Center, and any virtual
machines (VMs) hosted by ESX servers on your network. Available
resources include lists of VMs on selected ESXi and ESX servers,
performance details for ESXi and ESX servers and hosted VMs, and relevant
charts and reports.
Incident Alerting
You can configure custom alerts to respond to hundreds of possible network
scenarios, including multiple condition checks. SAM alerts help you
recognize issues before your network users experience productivity hits.
Alert delivery methods and responses include email, paging, SNMP traps,
text-to-speech, Syslog messaging, and external application execution.
Introduction  5
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Integrated Trap and Syslog Servers
SAM allows you to save time when investigating network issues by giving
you the ability to use traps and Syslog messages to access network
information from a single interface instead of requiring that you poll multiple
machines. You can use SAM to easily set up alerts and then receive,
process, forward, and send syslog and trap messages.
Detailed Historical Reports
Easily configure reports of data from the SAM database over custom time
periods. Data is presented in an easily reviewed format in the web console or
in the SAM Report Writer application. With over 40 built-in reports available,
you can project future trends and capacity needs, and immediately access
availability, performance, and utilization statistics. You can also download
new reports for import into Report Writer from www.thwack.com.
Groups and Dependencies
The ability to define device groups and dependencies allows you to more
effectively manage your network. Groups give you the ability to logically
organize monitored objects, regardless of device type or location, and
dependencies allow you to more faithfully represent what can actually be
known about your network, eliminating “false positive” alert triggers and
providing more accurate insight into the status of monitored network objects.
Extensible Products
With additional SolarWinds products, including Network Performance Monitor
(NPM), NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), IP SLA Manager (formerly Orion
VoIP Monitor), IP Address Manager (IPAM), and the Network Configuration
Manager (NCM) integration, NPM can monitor network applications, analyze
network traffic, monitor VoIP and WAN traffic using Cisco IP SLA, manage IP
address and subnet allocations, and monitor EnergyWise devices,
respectively. SolarWinds products save time by leveraging the existing
deployment to add feature functionality without requiring additional
standalone software.
6  Introduction
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Product Update Notifications
Receive regular, automatic notification of updates to your installed
SolarWinds monitoring applications in the Web Console as soon as they are
available from SolarWinds. Product updates can include upgrade
opportunities, service packs, and hotfixes.
SolarWinds Product Team Blog
Stay in touch with the people who bring you the products in the SolarWinds
family by following the SolarWinds Product Team Blog on thwack, the
SolarWinds online user community. Read posts from SolarWinds product
managers and developers to learn how to extend and optimize your SAM
installation to best meet the needs of your network.
Networking Concepts and Terminology
The following sections define the networking concepts and terminology that are
used within SAM.

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

SNMP Credentials
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
SAM uses the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to poll for status using
ping and echo requests of managed devices. When SAM polls a managed
device using ICMP, if the device is operationally up, it returns a response time
and record of any dropped packets. This information is used by SAM to monitor
status and measure average response time and packet loss percentage for
managed devices.
Note: SAM only uses ICMP to poll devices for status, average response time,
and packet loss percentage. Other information displayed in the SAM Web
Console is obtained using SNMP requests.
Introduction  7
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
For most network monitoring and management tasks, SAM uses the Simple
Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP-enabled network devices,
including routers, switches, and PCs, host SNMP agents that maintain a virtual
database of system status and performance information that is tied to specific
Object Identifiers (OIDs). This virtual database is referred to as a Management
Information Base (MIB), and SAM uses MIB OIDs as references to retrieve
specific data about a selected, SNMP-enabled, managed device. Access to MIB
data may be secured either with SNMP Community Strings, as provided with
SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c, or with optional SNMP credentials, as provided with
SNMPv3.
Notes:

To properly monitor devices on your network, you must enable SNMP on all
devices that are capable of SNMP communications. The steps to enable
SNMP differ by device, so you may need to consult the documentation
provided by your device vendor.

If SNMPv2c is enabled on a device you want SAM to monitor, by default,
SAM will attempt to use SNMPv2c to poll the device for performance
information. If you only want SAM to poll using SNMPv1, you must disable
SNMPv2c on the device to be polled.
For more information about SNMP credentials, see “SNMP Credentials” on
page 8.
SNMP Credentials
SNMP credentials secure access to SNMP-enabled managed devices. SNMPv1
and SNMPv2c credentials serve as a type of password that is authenticated by
confirming a match between a cleartext SNMP Community String provided by an
SNMP request and the SNMP Community String stored as a MIB object on an
SNMP-enabled, managed device. SNMPv3 provides a more secure interaction
by employing the following fields:

The User Name is a required cleartext string that indentifies the agent or poll
request that is attempting to access an SNMP-enabled device. User Name
functions similarly to the SNMP Community String of SNMP v1 and v2c.

The Context is an optional identifying field that can provide an additional
layer of organization and security to the information available in the MIB of an
SNMP-enabled device. Typically, the context is an empty string unless it is
specifically configured on an SNMP-enabled device.

SNMPv3 provides two optional Authentication Methods: Message Digest 5
(MD5) and Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1). Both methods, MD5 and SHA1,
8  Introduction
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
include the Authentication Key with the SNMPv3 packet and then generate
a digest of an entire SNMPv3 packet that is then sent. MD5 digests are 20
bytes long, and SHA1 digests are 16 bytes long. When the packet is
received, the User Name is used to recreate a packet digest using the
appropriate method. Both digests are then compared to authenticate.

SNMPv3 also provides two optional Privacy/Encryption Methods: Data
Encryption Standard (DES56) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES128)
using a 128 bit key. DES56 uses a 56 bit key with a 56 bit salt, and AES128
uses a 128 bit key with a 128 bit salt to encrypt the full SNMP v3 packet.
Introduction  9
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
How SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor
Works
Using UDP, TCP, SNMP, and WMI calls to your network framework and
application servers, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor provides real time
feedback on your applications and trending through statistics stored in the SAM
database. Keeping with the common components infrastructure, there are no
agents installed on your servers and no remote software to maintain. All calls are
made in real time and displayed on a Web Console accessible from any
supported browser. Refer to the following diagram:
10  Introduction
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
SAM continuously monitors the health and performance of your network. SAM
does this without interfering with the critical functions of your network. Unlike
many other application monitoring products, SAM helps you maintain the overall
performance of your network in the following ways:

SAM does not install outside agents on your mission-critical servers

SAM does not employ services that take vital resources from critical
applications

SAM does not install any code on monitored network devices. Unmanaged or
outdated code can open security holes in your network.
After installing SAM, you can automate the initial discovery of your network, and
then simply add new nodes and applications to SAM as you add them to your
network. SAM stores gathered information in a SQL database and provides a
user-friendly, highly customizable web console in which to view current and
historical network status.
Introduction  11
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
12  Introduction
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Chapter 2
Installing Server & Application Monitor
Server & Application Monitor (SAM) provides a simple, wizard-driven installation
process. For an enterprise-class product, system hardware and software
requirements are nominal.
Licensing Server & Application Monitor
SAM is licensed in accordance with the number of component monitors used.
Note that each instance of a monitor is counted. For example, if you have one
template assigned to 10 nodes, you need to count the number of monitors in the
template and then multiply by 10.
The following list provides the different types of Server & Application Monitor
licenses that are available:

Up to 50 objects (AL50)

Up to 100 objects (AL100)

Up to 250 objects (AL250)

Up to 500 objects (AL500)

Up to 1000 objects (AL1000)

Unlimited objects (ALX)
Database size increases with the addition of managed components. Depending
on the number of components and the amount of traffic flowing through them,
managing more than 10,000 components may require additional polling engines.
For more information about adding polling engines, see “Additional Polling
Engine and Web Console” in the SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor
Administrator Guide.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 13
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SAM Requirements
SolarWinds recommends installing SAM on its own server, with the SAM
database hosted separately, on its own SQL Server. Installations of multiple SAM
servers using the same database are not supported.
SAM Server Software Requirements
The following table lists minimum software requirements for your SAM server.
Software
Operating System
Web Server
.NET Framework
SNMP Trap
Services
Web Console
Browser
Requirements
Windows Server 2003 or 2008, including R2, with IIS in 32-bit mode.
IIS must be installed. SolarWinds recommends that SAM administrators
have local administrator privileges to ensure full functionality of local
tools. Accounts limited to use of the SAM Web Console do not require
administrator privileges.
Notes:
 SolarWinds does not support production installations of SAM
products on Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 systems.
 SAM is not supported on Windows Server 2008. For more
information, see “Additional SAM Requirements” on page 17.
Microsoft IIS, version 6.0 and higher, in 32-bit mode.
DNS specifications require that hostnames be composed of
alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), the minus sign (-), and periods
(.). Underscore characters (_) are not allowed. For more information,
see RFC 952.
Note: SolarWinds neither recommends nor supports the installation of
any SAM product on the same server or using the same database
server as a Research in Motion (RIM) Blackberry server.
Version 3.5 .NET Framework, 4.0 is recommended.
Windows operating system management and monitoring tools
component
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or higher with Active scripting,
Firefox 13.0 or higher (Toolset Integration is not supported on Firefox),
Google Chrome
SAM Server Hardware Requirements
The following table lists minimum hardware requirements and recommendations
for your SAM server.
Note: Hardware requirements are listed by SAM license level.
Hardware
CPU Speed
Hard Drive
Space
AL50, AL100, AL250, or AL500
AL1000
ALX
2.0 GHz
2.4 GHz
3.0 GHz
Note: Dual processor, dual core is recommended.
2 GB
5 GB
20 GB
Note: A RAID 1 drive for server operating system, SAM installation, and
tempdb files is recommended. The SAM installer needs 1GB on the drive
where temporary Windows system or user variables are stored. Per Windows
standards, some common files may need to be installed on the same drive as
your server operating system. For more information, see “Working with
Temporary Directories” in the SolarWinds SAM Common Components
Administrator Guide.
14  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Memory
Application
Ports
3 GB
4 GB
4 GB
161/SNMP and 443/SNMP. VMware ESX/ESXi Servers are polled on 443.
17777/TCP open for SAM module traffic
17778/ HTTPS open to access the SolarWinds Information Service API
Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers
SAM installations on VMware Virtual Machines and Microsoft Virtual Servers are
fully supported if the following minimum configuration requirements are met for
each virtual machine.
Note: SolarWinds strongly recommends that you maintain your SQL Server
database on a separate physical server.
Virtual Machine
Configuration
CPU Speed
Allocated
Hard Drive
Space
Memory
Network Interface
SAM Requirements by License Level
AL50, AL100, AL250, or
AL1000
ALX
AL500
2.0 GHz
2.4 GHz
3.0 GHz
2GB
5GB
20GB
Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, SQL Server should be hosted on a
separate physical server configured as RAID 1+0. RAID 5 is not
recommended for the SQL Server hard drive.
3 GB
4 GB
4 GB
Each virtual machine on which SAM is installed should have its own,
dedicated network interface card.
Note: Since SAM uses SNMP to monitor your network, if you are unable
to dedicate a network interface card to your SAM server, you may
experience gaps in monitoring data due to the low priority generally
assigned to SNMP traffic.
SAM Database Server Requirements (SQL Server)
The following table lists software and hardware requirements, by license level, for
your SAM database server.
Requirements
SQL Server
AL50, AL100, AL250, or AL500
AL1000
ALX
SQL Server 2005 SP1 Express, Standard, or Enterprise
SQL Server 2008 Express, Standard, or Enterprise
Notes:
 Due to latency effects, SolarWinds does not recommend installing your
SQL Server and your SAM server or additional polling engine in
different locations across a WAN. For more information, see SolarWinds
Knowledge Base article, “Can I install my SAM server or Additional
Polling Engine and my SAM database (SQL Server) in different
locations across a WAN?”
 Either mixed-mode or SQL authentication must be supported.
 If you are managing your SAM database, SolarWinds recommends you
install the SQL Server Management Studio component.
 If your SAM product installs SQL Server System CLR Types, a manual
restart of the SQL Server service for your SAM database is required.
 Use the following database select statement to check your SQL Server
version, service pack or release level, and edition:
select SERVERPROPERTY ('productversion'),
SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 15
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
CPU Speed
Hard Drive
Space
Memory
('edition')
2.0 GHz
2.4 GHz
3.0 GHz
2 GB
5 GB
20 GB
Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, a RAID 1+0 drive is strongly
recommended the SQL Server database and SAM data and log files. RAID
5 is not recommended for the SQL Server hard drive. The SAM installer
needs at least 1GB on the drive where temporary Windows system or user
variables are stored. Per Windows standards, some common files may
need to be installed on drive as your server operating system. For more
information, see “Working with Temporary Directories” in the SolarWinds
SAM Common Components Administrator Guide.
2 GB
3 GB
4 GB
Note: SolarWinds recommends additional RAM for SAM installations
utilizing more than 1,000 monitors. For optimal performance in larger ALX
environments, we recommend 8GB of RAM or greater. Additional memory
will improve both performance and reliability.
Notes:

The Configuration Wizard installs the following required x86 components if
they are not found on your SAM database server:

SQL Server System Common Language Runtime (CLR) Types. SAM
products use secure SQL CLR stored procedures for selected, non-business
data operations to improve overall performance.

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Microsoft SQL Server Management Objects
16  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Additional SAM Requirements
Enterprise-level SAM deployments with the potential for more than 1000 monitors
may need additional computing resources above the standards required for
SolarWinds common components:
Component Monitors
Up to 1000
More than 1000
Additional Requirements
No additional requirements
8+ GB RAM
Note: If you are running Windows Server 2008, you must upgrade to Windows
Server 2008 R2, because SAM does not support Windows Server 2008 due to
known WMI issues.
Server Sizing
SAM is capable of monitoring networks of any size, ranging from small corporate
LANs to large enterprise and service provider networks. Most SAM systems
perform well on 3.0 GHz systems with 4 GB of RAM, using default polling engine
settings. However, when monitoring larger networks, you should give additional
consideration to the hardware used and the system configuration.
There are three primary variables that affect scalability. The most important
consideration is the number of monitored elements, where an element is defined
as a single component monitor. Systems monitoring more than 1,000 elements
may require tuning for optimal performance. The second variable to consider is
polling frequency. For instance, if you are collecting statistics more frequently
than the default, the system will have to work harder and system requirements
will increase. Finally, the number of simultaneous users accessing SAM directly
impacts system performance.
When planning an SAM installation, there are four main factors to keep in mind
with respect to polling capacity: CPU, memory, number of polling engines, and
polling engine settings. For minimum hardware recommendations, see “SAM
Requirements” on page 14. For more information about polling engines, see
“Additional Polling Engine and Web Console” in the SolarWinds Application
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
In most situations, installing SAM and SQL Server on different servers is highly
recommended, particularly if you are planning to monitor 1000 elements or more.
If you experience performance problems or you plan to monitor a very large
network, you should certainly consider this option. This scenario offers several
performance advantages, as the SAM server does not perform any database
processing, and it does not have to share resources with SQL Server.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 17
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
If you plan to monitor 10,000 or more elements, SolarWinds recommends that
you install additional polling engines on separate servers to help distribute the
work load. For more information about sizing SAM to your network, contact the
SolarWinds sales team or visit www.solarwinds.com. For more information about
configuring additional pollers, see “Additional Polling Engine and Web Console”
in the SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
SNMP Requirements for Monitored Devices
SAM can monitor the performance of any SNMPv1-, SNMPv2c-, or
SNMPv3-enabled device on your network. Consult your device documentation or
a technical representative of your device manufacturer to acquire specific
instructions for configuring SNMP on your device.
Notes:

To properly monitor devices on your network, you must enable SNMP on all
devices that are capable of SNMP communications

Unix-based devices should use the configuration of Net-SNMP version 5.5 or
higher that is specific to the type of Unix-based operating system in use.

SAM is capable of monitoring VMware ESX and ESXi Servers versions 3.5
and higher with VMware Tools installed. For more information about enabling
SNMP and VMware Tools on your VMware device, consult your VMware
documentation or technical representative.

If SNMPv2c is enabled on a device you want SAM to monitor, by default,
SAM will attempt to use SNMPv2c to poll the device for performance
information. If you only want SAM to poll using SNMPv1, you must disable
SNMPv2c on the device to be polled.
18  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
To host the Web Console, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) must be
installed and enabled on your SAM server. Windows XP and Server 2003 require
IIS version 6; Windows Vista and Server 2008 require IIS version 7, as detailed
in the following sections:

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

Enabling IIS on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Enabling IIS on Windows 7
Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP
The following procedure enables IIS on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
To enable IIS on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:
1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. Select Application Server, confirm that it is checked, and then click Details.
4. Select Internet Information Services (IIS), confirm that it is checked, and
then click Details.
5. Select World Wide Web Service, confirm it is checked, and then click
Details.
6. Select World Wide Web Service, confirm it is checked, and then click OK.
7. Click OK on the Internet Information Services (IIS) window.
8. Click OK on the Application Server window.
9. Select Management and Monitoring Tools, confirm it is checked, and then
click Details.
10. Select both Simple Network Management Protocol and WMI SNMP
Provider and confirm that they are checked, and then click OK.
11. Click Next on the Windows Components window, and then click Finish after
completing the Windows Components Wizard.
Note: You may be prompted to install additional components, to provide your
Windows Operating System media, or to restart your computer. Restart your
server if prompted, but SAM does not require the Phone Book Service.
12. If you are currently enabling IIS as part of an SAM installation, restart
the SAM installer. For more information, see “Completing an SAM
Installation” on page 21.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 19
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Enabling IIS on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
IIS is enabled automatically after SAM installation and prior to the start of the
Configuration Wizard. If the Configuration Wizard detects that IIS is not installed
on Windows 2008, it installs IIS. The following manual procedure is provided for
Windows Vista, or in case problems occur with the automatic IIS installation for
Windows Server 2008.
To enable IIS on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008:
1. Click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager.
2. Click Roles in the left pane, and then click Add Roles in the main pane.
3. Click Next to start the Add Roles Wizard.
4. Check Web Server (IIS).
5. If you are prompted to add features required for Web Server (IIS), click
Add Required Features.
6. Click Next on the Select Server Roles window, and then click Next on the
Web Server (IIS) window.
7. Confirm that Common HTTP Features > Static Content is installed.
8. Check Application Development > ASP.NET.
9. Click Add Required Role Services.
10. Check both Security > Windows Authentication and Security > Basic
Authentication.
11. Check Management Tools > IIS 6 Management Compatibility.
12. Click Next on the Select Role Services window.
13. Click Install on the Confirm Installation Selections window, and then click
Close on the Installation Results window.
14. If you are currently enabling IIS as part of an SAM installation, restart
the SAM installer as detailed in “Completing an SAM Installation” on page 21.
20  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Enabling IIS on Windows 7
SolarWinds only supports evaluations of SAM version 4.0 and higher on
Windows 7. In these versions of SAM, IIS is enabled automatically after
installation and prior to the start of the Configuration Wizard.
The following manual procedure is provided in case problems occur with the
automatic IIS installation for Windows 7.
To enable IIS on Windows 7:
1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, click Programs and Features and then click Turn
Windows features on or off.
3. In the Windows Features dialog box, expand Internet Information
Services.
4. Expand the category for Web Management Tools and check IIS 6
Management Compatibility. (To do this, you must expand IIS 6
Management Compatibility and then check all of the sub-options
underneath.)
5. Expand the category for World Wide Web Services.
a. Expand the sub-category for Application Development Features and
check ASP.NET. Note that this also checks several other options.
b. Expand the category for Common HTTP Features and check Static
Content.
c. Expand the category for Security and check both Basic Authentication
and Windows Authentication.
6. Click OK.
Installing Server & Application Monitor
Any installation or upgrade of SAM requires completion of both the installer and
the Configuration Wizard, as detailed in the following sections:

Completing an SAM Installation

Completing the SAM Configuration Wizard
Completing an SAM Installation
The following procedure guides you through installing SAM. Ensure that the
computer on which you install SAM meets or exceeds the stated requirements.
For more information, see “SAM Requirements” on page 14.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 21
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Notes:

If you are using Internet Explorer, SolarWinds recommends that you add
both the URL of your SAM website (http://FullSAMServerName/), the URL
of SolarWinds support (http://support.solarwinds.com), and
about:blank to the list of trusted sites. For more information about adding
sites to your trusted sites list, see the Microsoft article, “Working with Internet
Explorer 6 Security Settings”.

For evaluation purposes only, SAM may be installed on Windows 7,
Windows XP, or Windows Vista. SolarWinds does not, however, support or
recommend installing SAM on these operating systems in production
environments.

When installing SAM on Windows XP, you must confirm that Shared
Memory, Named Pipes, and TCP/IP are enabled on remote databases.

When installing SAM on Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, or Windows
7, you must disable IPv6 support in Internet Information Services (IIS). For
more information, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852/.

If you are upgrading from a previous version of Server & Application Monitor,
see “Upgrading Server & Application Monitor” on page 27.
To install Server & Application Monitor:
1. As an administrator, log on to your SAM server.
Notes:

To avoid permissions issues, do not log on using a domain account.

Do not install SAM on a domain controller.

SolarWinds generally recommends that you back up your database
before performing any upgrade.
2. If you are using more than one polling engine to collect network
information, shut down each of these polling engines before continuing.
3. If you downloaded the product from the SolarWinds website, navigate to
your download location, and then launch the executable file.
4. If you received physical media, browse to the executable and launch it.
22  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
5. If you are prompted to install requirements, click Install, and then
complete the installation, including a reboot, if required.
Notes:

Downloading and installing Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 may take up
to 20 minutes or more, depending on your existing system configuration.

If a reboot is required, after restart, click Install to resume installation,
and then click Next on the Welcome window.
6. Review the Welcome text, and then click Next.
7. If the InstallShield Wizard detects that Microsoft Internet Information
Services (IIS) is not installed, select the suspend installation option, click
Next, quit setup, and then install Internet Information Services. For more
information, see “Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)” on
page 19.
8. If the InstallShield Wizard detects that any of the following SQL Server
components are not already installed, click Install:

Microsoft SQL Server System CLR Types

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Microsoft SQL Server Management Objects
9. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next.
10. If you want to install SAM in a destination folder other than the default
given, click Browse, select an installation folder, and then click OK.
11. Click Next on the Choose Destination Location window.
12. Confirm the current installation settings, and then click Next on the Start
Copying Files window.
13. Provide the appropriate information on the Install Software License Key
window, and then click Continue.
Note: You need your customer ID and password to successfully install the
key. For more information, see “Software License Key” on page 24.
14. Click Continue when the license is successfully installed.
15. Click Finish on the InstallShield Wizard Complete window.
The SAM Configuration Wizard should load automatically. For more information
about completing the SAM Configuration Wizard, see “Completing the SAM
Configuration Wizard” on page 25.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 23
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Software License Key
During installation, you may be prompted with the Install Software License Key
window requesting that you supply your name, e-mail address, phone number,
customer ID, and password. If this is the case, follow the instructions below to
enable a software license key.
To enable a software license key:
1. If the computer on which you are installing Server & Application
Monitor is connected to the Internet, enter the requested information on
the Install Software License Key window, and then click Continue.
Note: The SolarWinds license registration server will immediately issue a
license key that will allow Server & Application Monitor to operate.
2. If the computer on which you are installing Server & Application
Monitor is not connected to the Internet, your server cannot authenticate
to the SolarWinds license registration server, so you must complete the
following procedure:
a. Click Skip This and Enter Software License Key Now on the Install
Software License Key window.
b. Using another computer that is connected to the Internet, log in to the
customer area of the SolarWinds website at www.solarwinds.com/keys.
c. Click Software Keys from the Customer Area menu.
d. Click the product for which you need a key.
e. Provide the requested information, including the Computer Name and
Program Serial Number.
f.
Click Generate Key.
g. Copy the generated key.
h. Enter the key in the Enter Software License Key text box.
3. Click Continue to complete your Software License Key installation.
24  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Completing the SAM Configuration Wizard
The following procedure using the SAM Configuration Wizard completes and
configures your SAM installation.
Notes:

Confirm that you have designated a SQL Server database instance for SAM.
For more information, see “SAM Requirements” on page 14.

Confirm that the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager is not open
while the Configuration Wizard is running.

During configuration, the SAM polling engine will shut down temporarily with
the result that, if you are actively polling, you may lose some polling data.
SolarWinds recommends that you perform upgrades during off-peak hours of
network usage to minimize the impact of this temporary polling stoppage.
To configure Server & Application Monitor:
1. If the Configuration Wizard has not loaded automatically, click Start >
All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and Auto-Discovery >
Configuration Wizard.
2. Click Next on the Welcome window of the Configuration Wizard.
3. If you are prompted to stop services, click Yes.
Note: To ensure that all updates and changes are installed correctly, it is
imperative that you stop all services.
4. Specify the SQL Server instance you want to use to store network data.
5. Provide the credentials, if necessary, that are required to log into the
selected instance.
Notes:

If you are using an existing database, the user account needs only to
be in the db_owner database role for the existing database.

If you are using an existing SQL account, the user account needs
only to be in the db_owner database role for the SAM database.

The selected instance must support mixed-mode or SQL authentication
with strong passwords. A strong password must meet at least three of
the following four criteria:
o
Contains at least one uppercase letter.
o
Contains at least one lowercase letter.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 25
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
o
Contains at least one number.
o
Contains at least one non-alphanumeric character, e.g., #, %, or ^.
For more information about authentication with strong passwords, see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/ms143705.aspx.

If you are using SQL Express, specify your instance as (local) and
use a strong password. For more information about authentication with
strong passwords, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/ms143705.aspx. Due
to its inherent limitations, SolarWinds recommends against the use of
SQL Express in production environments.

If you are creating a new database, the user account must be a
member of the dbcreator server role. The sysadmin role and the sa
user account are always members of dbcreator.

If you are creating a new SQL account for use with SAM, the user
account must be a member of the securityadmin server role.
Note: The sysadmin role and the sa user account are always members
of securityadmin.
6. Click Next.
7. If you are creating a new database, select Create a new database,
provide a name for the new database, and then click Next.
Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric characters
in database names.
8. If you are using an existing database, select Use an existing database,
type the database name or select it from the list, and then click Next.
9. If you want to create a new SQL account for the SAM polling engine and
web console to use for accessing the database, select Create a new
account, provide an account name and password, confirm the account
password, and then click Next.
10. If you want to use an existing SQL account for the SAM polling engine
and web console to use for accessing the database, select the existing
account, provide the appropriate password, and then click Next.
11. If you need to specify a particular IP Address for the SAM Web Console,
provide the IP address of the host web server.
Note: SolarWinds recommends the default All Unassigned unless your
environment requires a specific IP address for your SAM Web Console.
26  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
12. Specify both the port through which you want to access the web console and
the volume and folder in which you want to install the web console files.
Note: If you specify any port other than 80, you must include that port in the
URL used to access the web console. For example, if you specify an IP
address of 192.168.0.3 and port 8080, the URL used to access the web
console is http://192.168.0.3:8080.
13. Click Next.
14. If you are prompted to create a new directory, click Yes.
15. If you are prompted to create a new website, click Yes.
Note: Choosing to overwrite the existing website will not result in the deletion
of any custom SAM website settings you may have previously applied.
16. Confirm that all services you want to install are checked, and then click Next.
17. Review the final configuration items, and then click Next.
18. Click Next on the Completing the SAM Configuration Wizard dialog.
19. Click Finish when the SAM Configuration Wizard completes.
20. Log in to the SAM Web Console as an administrator.
Note: By default, you can log in with User Name Admin and no password.
21. If you have not discovered your network devices and added them to the
SAM database, the Network Discovery Wizard starts. For more information,
see “Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard” on page 33.
Upgrading Server & Application Monitor
Complete the following procedure when you are upgrading SAM from a previous
version or upgrading the licensed number of elements you can monitor.
Notes:
 SolarWinds recommends that you back up your database before any
upgrade. For more information about creating database backups, see the
“Moving Your NPM Database” technical reference.

SolarWinds recommends that you back up your web console configuration
after creating a backup of your database. For more information about web
console configuration backups, see “Managing SAM Web Console
Configurations” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator
Guide.

Discovery profiles from older SAM versions are not retained through
upgrades to this SAM version. If you want to retain a discovery profile, prior
to starting your upgrade, externally record the configuration of the profiles
you want to retain.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 27
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

While it is being upgraded, your SAM polling engine will shut down
temporarily with the result that you may lose some polling data. SolarWinds
recommends that you perform upgrades during off-peak hours of network
usage to minimize the impact of this temporary polling stoppage.

If you currently have SAM 3.1 or earlier installed, you must first upgrade to
SAM 10 and then upgrade to SAM 3.5 before you can upgrade to SAM 4.0.
After upgrading to SAM 3.5, you can then upgrade to SAM 4.0.

For more information about upgrading SAM, particularly if you are upgrading
an SAM installation that includes SolarWinds modules, log in to your
SolarWinds Customer Portal at www.solarwinds.com/customerportal/, click
License Management, and then click Upgrade Instructions under the
license listing of SAM.
Specific instructions for completing an upgrade are available in the SolarWinds
Customer Portal. For more information about upgrading SAM, log in to your
SolarWinds Customer Portal at www.solarwinds.com/customerportal/, click
License Management, and then click Upgrade Instructions under the license
listing of SAM.
The following procedure completes an SAM upgrade.
To upgrade Server & Application Monitor:
1. If you are using more than one polling engine to collect network
information, shut down all polling engines before continuing.
2. Using the local administrator account, log on to the computer on which you
want to upgrade Server & Application Monitor.
3. If you downloaded the product from the SolarWinds website, navigate to
your download location and then launch the executable.
4. Review the Welcome text, and then click Next.
5. Server & Application Monitor automatically detects the previous installation.
When prompted to upgrade the current installation, click Next.
Note: All customizations, including web console settings, are preserved.
6. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next.
7. Confirm the current installation settings, and then click Next on the Start
Copying Files window.
8. Provide required information on the Install Software License Key window.
Note: You need your customer ID and password to successfully install the
key. For more information, see “Software License Key” on page 24.
9. Click Continue.
28  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
10. Click Continue again when the license is successfully installed.
11. Review the Upgrade Reminder, and then click Next.
12. Click Finish on the InstallShield Wizard Complete window.
13. Complete the Configuration Wizard.
For more information, see “Completing the SAM Configuration Wizard” on
page 25.
Upgrading an Evaluation License
The standard SAM evaluation period is 30 days. At the end of this period, you will
be prompted to either buy a license to SAM or enter information corresponding to
an SAM license you have already purchased. At any point in your evaluation
period, if you have purchased an SAM license, you may upgrade your evaluation
license as indicated in the following procedure.
To upgrade an SAM evaluation license:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Application
Performance Monitor > Application Performance Monitor Licensing.
2. Click Enter Licensing Information.
3. If the computer on which you installed SAM is connected to the
Internet, complete the following procedure:
a. Select I have internet access...
b. Browse to http://www.solarwinds.com/customerportal/.
c. Log in using your SolarWinds CustomerID and password.
Note: If you do not know your SolarWinds CustomerID and password
and you are not on active maintenance, contact the SolarWinds
Maintenance Renewal team at [email protected]. If you do
not know your SolarWinds CustomerID and password and you are on
active maintenance, submit a customer service ticket at
www.solarwinds.com/support/ticket/.
d. Click License Management.
e. Browse to SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor, and then locate
the Unregistered Licenses list.
f.
Copy your unregistered SAM activation key to the clipboard.
g. Paste the copied activation key into the Activation Key field on the
Activate SAM window.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 29
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
h. If you are using a proxy server to access the Internet, check I
access the internet through a proxy server, and then type the proxy
address and port number.
i.
Click Next.
4. If the computer on which you are installing SAM is not connected to the
Internet, complete the following procedure:
a. Select This server does not have internet access, and then click Next.
b. On the Activate Product window, click Copy Unique Machine ID.
c. Paste the copied data into a new document in a text editor, and then
save the text document.
d. Transfer the document to a computer with internet access.
e. On the computer with internet access, browse to
http://www.solarwinds.com/customerportal/.
f.
Log in using your SolarWinds CustomerID and password.
Note: If you do not know your SolarWinds CustomerID and password
and you are not on active maintenance, contact the SolarWinds
Maintenance Renewal team at [email protected]. If you do
not know your SolarWinds CustomerID and password and you are on
active maintenance, submit a customer service ticket at
www.solarwinds.com/support/ticket/.
g. Click License Management.
h. Browse to SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor.
i.
Click Manually Register License.
j.
Provide the Unique Machine ID you transferred in Step 3, above, and
then download your license key.
k. Transfer the license key to a shared location.
l.
On the server that does not have internet access, browse to the shared
License Key File location from the Activate Product window.
Maintaining Licenses with License Manager
SolarWinds License Manager is an easily installed, free utility that gives you the
ability to migrate SolarWinds licenses from one computer to another without
contacting SolarWinds Customer Service. The following sections provide
procedures for installing and using License Manager:

Installing License Manager

Using License Manager
30  Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Installing License Manager
Install License Manager on the computer from which you are migrating currently
licensed products.
Note: You must install License Manager on a computer with the correct time. If
the time on the computer is even slightly off, in either direction, from Greenwich
Mean Time (GMT), you cannot reset licenses without contacting SolarWinds
Customer Service. Time zone settings neither affect nor cause this issue.
To install License Manager:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds > SolarWinds License Manager
Setup.
2. Click I Accept to accept the SolarWinds EULA.
3. If you are prompted to install the SolarWinds License Manager
application, click Install.
Using License Manager
You must run License Manager on the computer where the currently licensed
SolarWinds product is installed before you can migrate licenses to a new
installation. The following procedure deactivates currently installed licenses that
can then be transferred to a new installation.
To deactivate currently installed licenses:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds > SolarWinds License Manager.
2. Check the products you want to deactivate on this computer.
3. Click Deactivate.
4. Specify your SolarWinds Customer ID and password when prompted, and
then click Deactivate.
Note: Deactivated licenses are now available to activate on a new computer.
When you have successfully deactivated your products, log on to the computer
on which you want to install your products, and then begin installation. When
asked to specify your licenses, provide the appropriate information. The license
you deactivated earlier is then assigned to the new installation.
Installing SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor 31
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Chapter 3
Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor (SAM) comprises a number of
monitoring, alerting, reporting and display tools. The following sections provide
an introduction to the application monitoring tools that are available in SAM.
Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard
SAM provides the easy-to-use Network Sonar Wizard to direct you in the
discovery of devices on your network. Before using the Network Sonar Wizard,
consider the following points about network discovery in SAM:

The Network Sonar Wizard recognizes network devices that are already in
your SAM database and prevents you from importing duplicate devices.

CPU and Memory Utilization charts are automatically enabled for your
Windows and VMware nodes.

The community strings you provide in the Network Sonar Wizard are only
used for SNMP GET requests, so read-only strings are sufficient.

After the Network Sonar Wizard completes the node discovery and imports
results, if you click Next, you are taken directly to the Application Discovery
Wizard to discover applications to monitor on the nodes.
The following procedure steps you through the discovery of devices on your
network using the Network Sonar Wizard.
To discover devices and applications on your network:
1. If the Network Sonar Wizard is not already open, click Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and Auto-Discovery >
Network Discovery.
2. If you have already defined a network discovery, select one of the
following options:

If you want to create a new discovery, click Add New Discovery.

If you want to use an existing discovery to rediscover your network,
select the discovery you want to use, click Discover Now, and then
complete the Network Sonar Results Wizard. For more information, see
“Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard” on page 38.

If you want to edit an existing discovery before using it, select the
discovery you want to edit, and then click Edit.
Getting Started with SAM 33
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

If you want to import some or all devices found in a defined
discovery that you may not have already imported for monitoring,
select a currently defined discovery, and then click Import All Results.
For more information about network discovery results, see “Managing
Scheduled Discovery Results” on page 42.

If you want to import any newly enabled devices matching a defined
discovery profile, select a currently defined discovery, and then click
Import New Results. For more information about network discovery
results, see “Managing Scheduled Discovery Results” on page 42.

If you want to delete an existing discovery profile, select a currently
defined discovery and then click Delete.
3. If the devices on your network do not require community strings other
than the default strings public and private provided by SAM, click Next
on the SNMP Credentials view.
4. If any of your network devices require community strings other than
public and private or if you want to use an SNMPv3 credential,
complete the following steps to add the required SNMP credential.
Note: Repeat the following procedure for each new community string. To
speed up discovery, highlight the most commonly used community strings on
your network, and then use the arrows to move them to the top of the list.
a. Click Add New Credential, and then select the SNMP Version of your
new credential.
b. If you are adding an SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c credential, provide the
new SNMP Community String.
c. If you are adding an SNMPv3 credential, provide the following
information for the new credential:

User Name, Context, and Authentication Method

Authentication Password/Key, Privacy/Encryption Method, and
Password/Key, if required.
d. Click Add.
5. Click Next on the SNMP Credentials view.
6. If you want to discover any VMware VCenter or ESX Servers on your
network, confirm that Poll for VMware is checked, and then complete the
following steps to add or edit required VMware credentials.
Note: Repeat the following procedure for each new credential. To speed up
discovery, use the arrows to move the most commonly used credentials on
your network to the top of the list.
a. Click Add vCenter or ESX Credential.
34  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
b. If you are using an existing VMware credential, select the appropriate
credential from the Choose Credential dropdown menu.
c. If you are adding a new VMware credential, select <New Credential>
in the Choose Credential dropdown menu, and then provide a new
credential name in the Credential Name field.
Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric
characters in VMware credential names.
d. Add or edit the credential User Name and Password, as necessary.
e. Confirm the password, and then click Add.
7. Click Next on the Local vCenter or ESX Credentials for VMware view.
8. If you want to discover devices located on your network within a
specific range of IP addresses, complete the following procedure.
Note: Only one selection method may be used per defined discovery.
a. Click IP Ranges in the Selection Method menu, and then, for each IP
range, provide both a Start address and an End address.
Note: Scheduled discovery profiles should not use IP address ranges
that include nodes with dynamically assigned IP addresses (DHCP).
b. If you want to add another range, click Add More, and then repeat the
previous step.
Note: If you have multiple ranges, click X to delete an incorrect range.
c. If you have added all the IP ranges you want to poll, click Next.
9. If you want to discover devices connected to a specific router or on a
specific subnet of your network, complete the following procedure:
Note: Only one selection method may be used per defined discovery.
a. Click Subnets in the Selection Method menu.
b. If you want to discover on a specific subnet, click Add a New
Subnet, provide both a Subnet Address and a Subnet Mask for the
desired subnet, and then click Add.
Note: Repeat this step for each additional subnet you want to poll.
c. If you want to discover devices using a seed router, click Add a
Seed Router, provide the IP address of the Router, and then click Add.
Notes:

Repeat this step for each additional seed router you want to use.

SAM reads the routing table of the designated router and offers to
discover devices on the Class A network (255.0.0.0 mask) containing
Getting Started with SAM 35
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
the seed router and the Class C networks (255.255.255.0 mask)
containing all interfaces on the seed router, using the SNMP version
chosen previously on the SNMP Credentials page.

Networks connected through the seed router are NOT automatically
selected for discovery.
d. Confirm that all networks on which you want to conduct your network
discovery are checked, and then click Next.
10. If you already know the IP addresses or hostnames of the devices you
want to discover and include in the SAM database, complete the
following procedure:
a. Click Specific Nodes in the Selection Method menu.
b. Type the IPv4 addresses or hostnames of the devices you want SAM to
discover for monitoring into the provided field.
Note: Type only one IPv4 address or hostname per line.
c. Click Validate to confirm that the provided IPv4 addresses and
hostnames are assigned to SNMP-enabled devices.
d. If you have provided all the IPv4 addresses and hostnames you
want to discover, click Next.
11. Configure the options on the Discovery Settings view, as detailed in the
following steps.
a. Provide a Name and Description to distinguish the current discovery
profile from other profiles you may use to discover other network areas.
Note: This Description displays next to the Name in the list of available
network discovery configurations on the Network Sonar view.
b. Position the slider or type a value, in ms, to set the SNMP Timeout.
Note: If you are encountering numerous SNMP timeouts during Network
Discovery, increase the value for this setting. The SNMP Timeout should
be at least a little more than double the time it takes a packet to travel
the longest route between devices on your network.
c. Position the slider or type a value, in ms, to set the Search Timeout.
Note: The Search Timeout is the amount of time SAM waits to determine
if a given IP address has a network device assigned to it.
d. Position the slider or type a value to set the number of SNMP Retries.
Note: This value is the number of times SAM will retry a failed SNMP
request, defined as any SNMP request that does not receive a response
within the SNMP Timeout defined above.
36  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
e. Position the slider or type a value to set the Hop Count.
Note: If the Hop Count is greater than zero, SAM searches for devices
connected to any discovered device. Each connection to a discovered
device counts as a hop.
f.
Position the slider or type a value to set the Discovery Timeout.
Note: The Discovery Timeout is the amount of time, in minutes, SAM is
allowed to complete a network discovery. If a discovery takes longer than
the Discovery Timeout, the discovery is terminated.
12. If you only want to use SNMP to discover devices on your network,
check Use SNMP only.
Note: By default, Network Sonar uses ICMP ping requests to locate devices.
13. If multiple SAM polling engines are available in your environment, select
the Polling Engine you want to use for this discovery.
14. Click Next.
15. If you want the discovery you are currently defining to run on a regular
schedule, select either Custom or Daily as the discovery Frequency, as
shown in the following steps:
Notes:

Scheduled discovery profiles should not use IP address ranges that
include nodes with dynamically assigned IP addresses (DHCP).

Default Discovery Scheduling settings execute a single discovery of your
network that starts immediately, once you click Discover.

Results of scheduled discoveries are maintained on the Scheduled
Discovery Results tab of Network Discovery. For more information, see
“Managing Scheduled Discovery Results” on page 42.
a. If you want to define a Custom discovery schedule to perform the
currently defined discovery repeatedly in the future, select Custom
and then provide the period of time, in hours, between discoveries.
b. If you want your scheduled discovery to run once daily, select Daily,
and then provide the time at which you want your discovery to run every
day, using the format HH:MM AM/PM.
16. If you do not want to run your network discovery at this time, select No,
don’t run now, and then click Save or Schedule, as appropriate.
17. Click Discover to start your network discovery.
Getting Started with SAM 37
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard
The Network Sonar Results Wizard directs you through the selection of network
devices for monitoring, and it opens whenever discovery results are requested,
either when the Network Sonar Wizard completes or when either Import All
Results or Import New Results is clicked for a selected discovery. For more
information, see “Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard” on
page 33.
The following steps detail the process of selecting discovered devices and
volumes for monitoring in SAM.
To select the results of a network discovery for monitoring in SAM:
1. On the Device Types to Import page, check the device types you want SAM
to monitor, and then click Next.
Note: If you are not sure you want to monitor a specific device type, check
the device type in question. If, later, you do not want to monitor a selected
device, simply delete the device using Web Node Management. For more
information, see “Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console” on page 48.
2. On the Volume Types to Import page, check the volume types you want SAM
to monitor, and then click Next.
Note: If you are not sure you want to monitor a specific volume type, check
the volume type in question. If, later, you do not want to monitor any volume
of the selected type, delete the volume using Web Node Management. For
more information, see “Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console” on
page 48.
3. If you want to import nodes, even when they are already known to be
polled by another polling engine, check the option in the Allow Duplicate
Nodes section. For more information about working with multiple polling
engines, see “Additional Polling Engine and Web Console” in the SolarWinds
Application Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
4. If there are any devices on the Import Preview that you do not ever want
to import, check the device to ignore, and then click Ignore. Selected nodes
are added to the Discovery Ignore List. For more information, see “Using the
Discovery Ignore List” on page 43.
5. Confirm that the network objects you want to monitor are checked on the
Import Preview page, and then click Import.
6. After the import completes:
38  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
o
If you want to begin adding applications for the nodes discovered,
click Next. You are taken to the Application Discovery Wizard. For more
information, see the section “Using the Application Discovery Wizard” on
page 39.
o
If you want to skip adding applications at this time, click Finish.
Note: Imported devices display in the All Nodes resource.
Using the Application Discovery Wizard
SAM can scan nodes and automatically assign the application monitors it deems
suitable for each scanned node. You control the nodes to be scanned, the
application templates used in the scan, and the scanning parameters that
determine a match.
To use the application discovery:
1. Follow the instructions in the Select Nodes Wizard.
2. Follow the instructions in the Select Applications Wizard.
3. Follow the instructions in the Enter Credentials Wizard.
4. Follow the instructions in the Review & Start Scan Wizard.
5. Follow the instructions in the Add Ux Monitors Wizard.
Getting Started with SAM 39
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Select Nodes
Click [+] in the list to expand the node groups and to select the nodes you want to
scan.
When you are finished selecting nodes, click Next.
Select Applications
To keep the time it takes to scan to a minimum, we recommend you initially scan
for only a limited number of application templates. To see more application
templates, select a different template group from the Show Only list.
To adjust the template assignment criteria, expand Advanced Scan Settings
and move the slider to the desired setting:
Exact Match
All the components must match to assign the template.
Strong Match
Most of the components must match to assign the template.
Partial Match
Some of the components must match to assign the template.
Minimal Match
At least one component must match to assign the template.
When you are finished selecting applications, click Next.
Enter Credentials
Some application templates require credentials either to access restricted
resources, or to run within the context of a specific user. To scan for these
templates, add the necessary credentials to the list. If a template you are
scanning for requires credentials, the credentials in this list are tried in the order
in which they appear.
Warning!: Credentials are tried several times over the course of a scan, so an
incorrect password is likely to lock out an account. To avoid potential account
lockouts that affect actual users, we recommend you create and use service
accounts. A service account is an account created specifically for the purpose of
providing credentials to use for SAM monitoring. With service accounts, no actual
user is affected by an account lockout if a password should be entered
incorrectly.
If you have domains sharing user names with different passwords, we
recommend you run separate application discoveries for each domain.
40  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
When you are finished entering credentials, click Next.
Review & Start Scan
Review the summary for the scan. If the automatic discovery matches templates
that are already assigned to the node, by default the template is not assigned a
second time. If you want to assign duplicate templates, select Yes, Assign
Anyway from the Do you want to assign duplicates list.
Click START SCAN to begin the scan. The scan runs in the background. If
desired, click View progress near the light bulb icon toward the top of the page
to view the progress of the scan. You are notified by a message near the top of
the window when scanning is completed. Click View results to see the results of
the scan.
Add UX Monitors
You cannot scan for user experience (UX) monitors, but you can assign them to
nodes manually. Adding monitors from this page does not affect your scan.
Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File
SAM provides a Specific Nodes option in the Network Discovery Wizard that may
be used to import devices from a seed file. The following procedure details how
the Specific Nodes option is used with a seed file to import devices in the SAM
database.
To import devices from a seed file:
1. Open your seed file.
2. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and
Auto-Discovery > Network Discovery.
3. Click Add New Discovery.
4. If you need to supply new SNMP credentials to discover the devices in
your seed file, click Add New Credential, provide the required information,
and then click Add. For more information, see “Network Discovery Using the
Network Sonar Wizard” on page 33.
5. If you intend to import known ESX servers and you need to supply new
ESX credentials to discover these servers in your seed file, complete the
following steps on the Local ESX Credentials for VMware view:
a. Check Poll for ESX, and then click Add ESX Credential.
b. Provide the required information, and then click Add.
Note: For more information, see “Network Discovery Using the Network
Sonar Wizard” on page 33.
Getting Started with SAM 41
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
6. Click Next, and then click Specific Nodes in the Selection Method menu.
7. Copy and then paste the IP addresses or hostnames of the devices you want
SAM to discover from your seed file into the provided field.
Note: Type only one IPv4 address or hostname per line.
8. Click Validate to confirm that the provided IP addresses and hostnames are
assigned to SNMP-enabled devices.
9. If you have provided all the IP addresses and hostnames you want to
discover, click Next.
10. Complete the Network Discovery and Network Discovery Results Wizards.
For more information, see “Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar
Wizard” on page 33.
Managing Scheduled Discovery Results
The Scheduled Discovery Results tab of Network Discovery provides a list of all
recently discovered, changed, or imported devices on your monitored network.
Results are compared between discoveries, and results are listed on this tab.
The following procedure provides guidelines for managing discovery results.
To manage scheduled discovery results:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and
Auto-Discovery > Network Discovery.
2. Click Scheduled Discovery Results.
3. Select the type of devices you want to view from the Status menu in the left
pane. The following options are available:

Select Found to view all devices discovered by a scheduled discovery.

Select Changed to view all devices that have changed between recent
scheduled discoveries. Changes include the addition of device
configuration changes.

Select Imported to view all devices you have recently imported into
SAM. For more information about importing devices, see “Using the
Network Sonar Results Wizard” on page 38.

Select Ignored to view all devices you have added to your Discovery
Ignore List. For more information about the Discovery Ignore List, see
“Using the Discovery Ignore List” on page 43.
42  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide

Select Found and Changed to view a combined list of all devices found
or changed as described above.

Select All except Ignored to view all discovered, changed or imported
devices you have not already designated as Ignored, as detailed above.
4. If you want to apply a grouping criterion to organize your listed results,
select an appropriate criterion from the Group by menu in the left pane.
5. If there are changed or discovered nodes in the results list that you
want to update your SAM database to include, check all nodes to update
or add, and then click Import Nodes.
6. If there are devices you want SAM to ignore in future discoveries,
regardless of discovered updates or changes, check all nodes to ignore,
and then click Add to Ignore List. For more information about the Discovery
Ignore List, see “Using the Discovery Ignore List” on page 43.
Using the Discovery Ignore List
Often, devices are found during a network discovery that you never intend to
monitor with SAM. The Discovery Ignore List is a record of all such devices on
your network. By placing a device on the Discovery Ignore List you can minimize
the SNMP processing load associated with discovering devices that you never
intend to monitor.
To manage devices on the Discovery Ignore List:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and
Auto-Discovery > Network Discovery.
2. If you want to view the current Discovery Ignore List, click Discovery
Ignore List.
3. If you want to add devices to the Discovery Ignore List, complete the
following procedure:
a. Click Scheduled Discovery Results.
b. Check devices you want to ignore, and then click Add to Ignore List.
4. If you want to remove devices from the Discovery Ignore List, complete
the following procedure:
a. Click Scheduled Discovery Results, and then
b. Check the devices you want to remove from the list, and then click
Remove from Ignore List.
c. Confirm that you want to stop ignoring selected items by clicking OK.
Getting Started with SAM 43
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Using the Web Console Notification Bar
Below the web console menu bar, the SAM notification bar provides informational
messages related to the following SAM features:

The SolarWinds Product Team Blog offers regular posts from members of
the SolarWinds product team to help you take full advantage of features
provided by SAM. If you have configured the SAM Web Console to store blog
posts, new and unread posts to the SolarWinds Product Team Blog are
announced in the notification bar.
If you want to be notified when new posts are submitted to the SAM
Product Team blog, click More Details in the XX new blog post(s) message
near the top of the page. Then check Store blog posts, provide the number
of most recent posts you want to store, and then click Save Settings. To
designate the number of recent posts you want to see on this view, either
provide the number of posts to view in the Show last XX posts field or check
Show all blog posts.

The Available Product Updates view allows you to configure regular checks
for SAM updates that can include version upgrades and service packs. If you
have configured the SAM Web Console to check for product updates, an
announcement displays in the notification bar when an update, including any
upgrade, service pack, or hotfix, to SAM or any other SolarWinds products
you currently have installed becomes available. For more information about
configuring the Available Product Updates view, see the section “Configuring
the Available Product Updates View” in the SolarWinds Common
Components Administrator Guide.

If you have currently configured a scheduled discovery, results display in the
notification bar when the discovery completes. For more information about
Scheduled Discovery, see “Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar
Wizard” on page 33.

If you are currently using SAM to monitor any VMware ESX or ESXi Servers,
the notification bar can display messages communicating the number of ESX
nodes found during any discovery, and, if any discovered ESX nodes require
credentials, the notification bar tells you. For more information about
monitoring VMware ESX Servers, see “Monitoring VMware Devices” in the
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
For more information about any displayed notification bar message, click More
Details and a web console view relevant to the displayed message opens.
To delete a posted message, either click Dismiss Message next to the displayed
message, or properly address the situation mentioned in the posted notification.
44  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
To remove the notification bar from your web console, click Close (X) at the right
end of the notification bar.
Navigating the SAM Web Console
The SAM Web Console offers two primary methods of navigation: top-level web
console tabs and view-level breadcrumbs, as described in the following sections:

Using Web Console Tabs

Using Web Console Breadcrumbs
Using Web Console Tabs
In the case of a basic SAM installation, the following tabs:
Home
The Home tab provides a menu bar of links to views aiding you in general
network management and monitoring. Information, like events and Top 10
lists, and technologies, like alerts, used to generate the views linked from the
Home menu are generally available to all SolarWinds modules. By default,
the SAM Summary Home view displays when you click Home from any
view in the web console.
Applications
The Applications tab opens a menu bar of links to applications, such as
Exchange and Windows, that are specific to the features provided by SAM.
By default, the SAM Application Summary view displays when you click
Applications from any view in the web console.
Virtualization
The Virtualization tab provides access to specific views and resources that
are tailored for monitoring virtual devices. For more information about
virtualization monitoring in SAM, see the SolarWinds Integrated Virtual
Infrastructure Monitor Administrator Guide.
For each additional SolarWinds product installed in your environment, an
additional tab is provided, offering access to views and tools specific to the
SolarWinds product added. For more information about customizing menu bars,
see “Customizing the SAM Web Console” in the SolarWinds Orion Common
Components Administrator Guide.
Getting Started with SAM 45
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Using Web Console Breadcrumbs
As you navigate the views of the SAM Web Console, your location is recorded as
a series of links, or breadcrumbs, to the web console views through which you
have linked to arrive at your current location. Each breadcrumb offers the
following navigation options:

Clicking a breadcrumb opens the corresponding view directly.

Clicking > next to a breadcrumb opens a clickable list of all other views at the
same navigation level in the web console. For example, if you are on a Node
Details view, clicking > displays a list of other monitored nodes.
Note: Only the first 50 monitored nodes, listed in alphanumeric order by IP
address, are displayed.
Dropdown breadcrumb lists are customizable, as shown in the following
procedure.
To customize the items in a breadcrumb dropdown:
1. Click > at an appropriate level in a breadcrumb to open the dropdown.
2. Click Customize this list.
3. Select a criterion from the menu, and then click Submit.
Note: All items in the customized breadcrumb list will be identical for the
selected criterion.
Configuring the SAM Web Console
The primary user interface for SAM is the Web Console, where performance data
for your network devices is most easily viewed. The following sections describe
the primary administrative functions performed by a Web Console administrator.
For more information about administrative functions in the SAM Web Console,
including extensive configuration examples, see “Managing the SAM Web
Console” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
46  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Logging in for the First Time as an Administrator
The first time you start the SAM Web Console, you will be presented with a login
page requiring both a User Name and a Password. Log in to the SAM Web
Console as shown in the following steps.
To log in to the SAM Web Console:
1. Launch the SAM Web Console using either of the following methods:

Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.

Or launch a browser on your SAM server and enter http://ip_address
or http://hostname, where ip_address is the IP address of your SAM
host server, or where hostname is the domain name of the server hosting
your SAM installation.
2. Enter Admin as your User Name, and then click Login.
Notes:

The latest version of the SAM Web Console supports authentication of
defined Active Directory users and groups.

Until you set a password, you can log in as Admin with no Password.
After your first login, you may want to change the Admin password. For
more information, see “Changing an Account Password” on page 47.
Changing an Account Password
SAM administrators may change user account passwords at any time, as shown
in the following procedure.
To change an account password:
1. Log in to the web console as an administrator.
2. Click Settings in the top right corner of the web console.
3. Click Manage Accounts in the Accounts grouping of the SAM Website
Administration page.
4. Select the user account with the password you want to change, and then
click Change Password.
5. Complete the New Password and Confirm Password fields, and then click
Change Password.
6. Click Continue when the password is successfully changed.
Getting Started with SAM 47
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console
Managing all the monitored devices on your network is greatly simplified with the
Node Management feature of the SAM Web Console. Using this tool, you can
easily add and remove nodes and virtual servers and quickly view and edit
device properties. Any user that has been granted node management rights can
directly access the Node Management tool either from any All Nodes resource or
through the SAM Website Administration page. For more information about
granting node management rights, see “Editing User Accounts” in the
SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
The following sections describe the various functions that allow you to view and
manage all your network devices from the SAM Web Console.
Note: The Node Management feature is accessible by clicking Manage Nodes
either in the header of any All Nodes resource or in the Node & Group
Management group of the SAM Website Administration page (to access this
page, click Settings near the top right of the web console). The All Nodes
resource is included on the SAM Summary Home view by default, but you can
include it on any other web console view as well. Confirm that the All Nodes
resource is available on an appropriate Web Console view before continuing. For
more information about adding resources to SAM views, see “Editing Views” in
the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console
The following procedure details the steps required to add a device and its
volumes for monitoring in the SAM Web Console.
To add a device for monitoring in the SAM Web Console:
1. Log in to the SAM Web Console as an administrator.
2. Click Settings in the top right of the web console.
3. Click Manage Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping of the
SAM Website Administration page.
4. Click Add Node on the Node Management toolbar.
5. Provide the hostname or IP Address of the node you want to add in the
Hostname or IP Address field.
6. If you only want to use ICMP to monitor node status, response time, or
packet loss for the added node, check ICMP (Ping only).
7. If you are adding a VMware ESX Server, check Poll for VMware to ensure
that SAM acquires any data the ESX Server provides to SNMP polling
requests, and then complete the following steps to provide required ESX
Server credentials. For more information about monitoring VMware ESX
48  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Servers, see “Monitoring VMware Devices” in the SolarWinds Common
Components Administrator Guide.
a. Provide an appropriate VMware credential name.
Notes:

If you are editing an existing credential, select the credential you are
editing from the Choose Credential field.

SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric characters
in VMware credential names.
b. Provide an appropriate User name and a Password.
c. Provide the password again in the Confirm password field.
d. Click Test to confirm the ESX credentials you provided.
8. If you want to add an External node to monitor a hosted application
with SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor, check External.
Note: SAM does not collect or monitor any network performance data from
nodes designated as External. The External status is reserved for nodes
hosting application that you want to monitor with SolarWinds Application
Performance Monitor.
9. If you want to use SNMP to monitor the added node, confirm that ICMP
(Ping only) is cleared, and then complete the following steps:
a. Select the SNMP Version for the added node.
Notes:

SAM uses SNMPv2c by default. If the device you are adding
supports or requires the enhanced security features of SNMPv3,
select SNMPv3.

If SNMPv2c is enabled on a device you want SAM to monitor, by
default, SAM will attempt to use SNMPv2c to poll for performance
information. If you only want SAM to poll using SNMPv1, you must
disable SNMPv2c on the device to be polled.
b. If you have installed multiple polling engines, select the Polling
Engine you want to use to collect statistics from the added node.
Note: This option may not be available if you are only using one polling
engine to collect information from your network.
c. If the SNMP port on the added node is not the SAM default of 161,
provide the actual port number in the SNMP Port field.
Getting Started with SAM 49
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
d. If the added node supports 64 bit counters and you want to use
them, check Allow 64 bit counters.
Note: SAM fully supports the use of 64-bit counters; however, these high
capacity counters can exhibit erratic behavior depending on
manufacturer implementation. If you notice peculiar results when using
these counters, use the Node Details view to disable the use of 64-bit
counters for the device and contact the hardware manufacturer.
10. If you want SAM to use SNMPv2c to monitor the added node, provide
valid community strings for the added node.
Note: The Read/Write Community String is optional, but SAM does require
the public Community String, at minimum, for node monitoring.
11. If you want SAM to use SNMPv3 to monitor the added node, provide the
following SNMP Credentials, Authentication, and Privacy/Encryption
settings:

SNMPv3 Username and Context

SNMPv3 Authentication Method and Password/Key

SNMPv3 Privacy/Encryption Method and Password/Key
12. If you are using SNMP to communicate with your added node, click
Validate SNMP after entering all required credentials to confirm your SNMP
settings.
13. Click Next.
14. Check the volumes for the added node that you want SAM to monitor. The
following options are available:

Clicking All selects all listed devices and charts for monitoring.

Clicking None clears any volumes that have been selected for
monitoring.

Clicking All Volumes selects all listed volumes for monitoring.
15. After you have selected volumes for monitoring, click Next.
16. If you want to edit the SNMP settings you provided earlier, change the
appropriate values in the SNMP area of the Change Properties page, and
then click Validate SNMP to confirm your new settings.
17. If you want to edit the default polling settings for your added node,
change the Node Status Polling or Collect Statistics Every values in the
Polling area of the Change Properties page, as appropriate.
50  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Note: The Node Status Polling value refers to the number of seconds,
between the node status checks SAM performs on the added node. The
Collect Statistics Every value refers to the period of time between the
updates SAM makes to displayed statistics for the added node.
18. If you have defined any custom properties for monitored nodes, provide
appropriate values for the added node in the Custom Properties area of the
Change Properties page.
Note: The Custom Properties area is empty if you have not defined any
custom properties for monitored nodes in SAM.
19. Click OK, Add Node when you have completed properties configuration for
your added node.
20. If you have successfully added the node, click OK on the dialog.
Deleting Devices from Monitoring
The following procedure deletes devices from monitoring in the web console.
Warning: Deleting nodes from monitoring in the web console automatically
terminates monitoring of all volumes on deleted nodes.
Note: You can select multiple devices to delete at the same time.
To delete devices from monitoring in the SAM Web Console:
1. Log in to the SAM Web Console as an administrator.
2. Click Settings in the top right of the web console.
3. Click Manage Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping of the
SAM Website Administration page.
4. If you want to delete a node, complete the following steps.
a. Locate the node to delete using either of the following methods:

Use the search tool above the node list to search your SAM
database for the node you want to delete.

Select an appropriate Group by: criterion, and then click the
appropriate group including the node to delete.
b. Check the node to delete in the list, and then click Delete on the toolbar.
Getting Started with SAM 51
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
5. If you want to delete a volume, use the following steps.
a. Locate the element to delete using either of the following methods:

Use the search tool above the node list to search your SAM
database for the parent node of the volume to delete.

Select a Group by: criteria, and then click the appropriate group
including the parent node of the volume to delete.
b. If you have a list of node results, click + to expand the parent node of
the volume you want to delete.
c. Check the volume to delete.
d. Click Delete on the Node Management toolbar.
6. Click OK to confirm deletion.
Editing Device Properties
The following procedure provides the steps required to edit node, or volume
properties using the Node Management utility of the SAM Web Console.
To edit device properties in the SAM Web Console:
1. Log in to the SAM Web Console as an administrator.
2. Click Settings in the top right of the web console.
3. Click Manage Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping.
4. Locate the device to edit using either of the following methods:

Use the search tool above the node list to search your SAM database for
the node you want to edit or the parent node of the volume you want to
edit.

Select an appropriate Group by criteria, and then click the appropriate
group including either the node to edit or the parent node of the volume
to edit.
5. If you want to edit the properties of a monitored node, check the node
you want to edit, and then click Edit Properties.
6. If you are editing the SNMP properties of a node, click Validate SNMP
after providing new settings to confirm they are valid for the edited node.
7. If the selected node is a VMware ESX Server and you want to poll it for
data using the VMware API, Confirm that Poll for ESX is checked.
8. If you want to poll for ESX data using an existing ESX credential, select
the appropriate credential from the VMware credentials dropdown menu.
52  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
9. If you want to poll for ESX data using a new ESX credential, complete
the following steps:
a. Select <New Credential> in the Choose Credential dropdown menu,
and then provide a new credential name in the Credential Name field.
Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric
characters in VMware credential names.
b. Add the credential User name and Password, as necessary.
c. Confirm the password, and then click Validate VMware to confirm the
credentials you have provided are valid for the edited node.
10. Edit additional device properties as needed, and then click Submit.
Viewing Node Resources
The List Resources feature of the SAM Web Console Node Management utility
allows you to immediately see all monitored volumes on a selected node, as
shown in the following procedure.
To view a list of all resources present on a node:
1. Log in to the SAM Web Console as an administrator.
2. Click Settings in the top right of the web console.
3. Click Manage Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping.
4. Locate the node to view using either of the following methods:

Use the search tool above the node list to search your SAM database for
the node you want to view.

Select an appropriate Group by criteria, and then click the appropriate
group including the node to view.
5. Check the node you want to view from the list.
6. Click List Resources on the Node Management toolbar.
Setting Device Management States
Monitored devices are regularly polled for operational status. Collected statistics
are displayed in the SAM Web Console. Using the Node Management feature of
the SAM Web Console, the management status of monitored nodes is easily set
or changed, allowing you to either temporarily suspend data collection or resume
polling and statistics collection, as necessary. The following procedure sets or
changes management states for monitored nodes in the SAM Web Console.
Getting Started with SAM 53
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Note: Setting a node to an unmanaged state automatically suspends the
management of all volumes on the selected node.
To set or change the management state of a node:
1. Log in to the SAM Web Console as an administrator.
2. Click Settings in the top right of the web console, and then click Manage
Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping.
3. Locate the node to manage using either of the following methods:

Use the search tool above the node list to search your SAM database for
the device you want to manage.

Select an appropriate Group by criteria, and then click the appropriate
group including the node to manage.
4. Check the node to change, and then click Unmanage or Remanage, as
appropriate, for the selected node.
5. If you have selected Unmanage, provide start and end times and dates for
your management suspension, and then click OK.
54  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Viewing Node and Application Data in Tooltips
Node and application tooltips in SAM provide immediate status overviews of
monitored nodes and applications. To view a quick overview of any monitored
node or application in the web console, hover over the name of the item.
Depending on the selected device, the information in the following tables is
displayed immediately.
Node Data
Node Status
IP Address
Machine Type
Average Response Time
Packet Loss
CPU Load
Memory Used
# of Running VMS
ESX Host Status
Application Data
App Name
App Status
Server Status
Components with Problems
Current status of the node. (up, down, warning,
unplugged, or unmanaged)
Note: SAM now supports the ability to include
applications in calculation of node child status. So if node
is up, but application on that device is down, you will see
a child status icon indicating there is a problem.
The IP address currently assigned to the selected node
The vendor icon and vendor description of the selected
node
The measured average response time of the selected
node as of the last node poll
The percent of all transmitted packets that are lost by the
selected node as of the last node poll
The percent of available processing capacity on the
selected node that is currently used as of the last node
poll
The percent of available memory on the selected node
that is currently used as of the last node poll
Number of running VMS and total VMS
Status of the ESX Host
The name of the application.
The status of the application (up, down, unknown,
warning, or critical).
Operational status of the server (up, down, warning,
unplugged, or unmanaged).
List of the components with problems and their statuses.
Adding Views to the Admin Toolbar
As an example of a useful customization in the SAM Web Console, the following
procedure adds a Network Trends chart view to the Admin toolbar.
To add the Network Trends chart view to the Admin toolbar:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the Web Console as an administrator, and then click Settings in the
top right of the web console.
Getting Started with SAM 55
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
3. Click Customize Menu Bars in the Customize grouping of the SAM Website
Administration page, and then click Edit under the Admin menu bar.
4. Click and drag Network Trends from the Available items list on the left to the
desired location in the Selected items list on the right.
Note: The Edit Admin Menu Bar lists a wide array of views that can be added
directly to the SAM Web Console Views toolbar. Hover over any view title to
read a view description. Selected views may be further customized by
clicking Edit next to the view title.
Note: Selected items display from left to right in the edited menu bar as they
are listed from top to bottom.
5. Click Submit on the Edit Admin Menu Bar page.
6. Click Network Trends on the Admin toolbar.
Note: Due to the amount of data queried from the database, the Network
Trends resources may take a significant time to load. You can also edit the
number of resources included in the view to reduce the time to load. For
more information about customizing views, see “Customizing Views” in the
SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
56  Getting Started with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Chapter 4
Using Server & Application Monitor
A wealth of information can be collected about your network using the powerful
tools that comprise Server & Application Monitor (SAM). The first two sections in
this chapter introduce the configuration of SAM reports and alerts, and a third
section details additional SAM features:

Common SAM Monitoring Scenarios

Creating Custom SAM Reports

Using SAM Alerts

Additional SAM Features
Common SAM Monitoring Scenarios
You will perform two common SAM monitoring tasks in this section:

Monitoring Windows Servers

Monitoring the Size of an SAM Directory
Monitoring Windows Servers
We need to add the server nodes to the SAM database, assign the Windows
Server 2003-2008 template to the server nodes, and then adjust the warning
threshold of the template's Disk Queue Length component to >2. This will make
SAM send us a warning if the Disk Queue Length of any server is greater than 2.
We can add each server to the SAM database one at a time, but it is also easy to
add the entire IP range using Network Discovery. For this example, we will only
monitor the Windows Server where your SAM is installed.
1. Log on to the SAM Web Console.
2. Add the Windows servers to the SAM database.
a. Click Settings.
b. Click Network Sonar Discovery.
c. Click Add New Discovery.
d. Click Next.
e. Click Next.
Using Server & Application Monitor 57
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
f.
Enter the IP address for your SAM server as the Start address and also
as the End address, and then click Next.
Note: for a discovery where you wanted to discover a large number of
nodes, you would enter the start and end address of the desired range of
nodes in these fields, rather than the one node for our example.
g. Click Next to save the discovery settings.
h. Click Discover to begin the discovery process. The Discovering Network
dialog is displayed.
i.
Click Next on each page until you reach the Import Preview page.
j.
When you reach the Import Preview page, click Import.
k. When you reach the Results page, click Finish.
3. Assign the Windows 2003-2008 template to your SAM server node.
a. Click Applications if not already selected.
b. Click SAM Settings.
c. Click Manually Assign Application Monitors.
d. Select Windows in the Show only list.
e. Select Windows Server 2003-2008, and then click Next.
f.
Browse to your Windows nodes, select the SAM server, and then click
Next.
g. Enter sysadmin in the Credential Name field.
h. Enter your administrator user name for the SAM server in the User
Name field.
i.
Enter your password for the SAM server in the Password and Confirm
Password fields.
j.
Click Test.
k. If the test fails, see “Troubleshooting the Windows 2003-2008
Template.”
l.
Click Assign Application Monitors, and then click Done.
58  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
4. Change the Disk Queue Length warning threshold of the Windows 20032008 template to >2.
a. Click SAM Settings.
b. Click Manage Templates.
c. Select Windows in the tag group column.
d. Check the Windows Server 2003-2008 check box.
e. Click Edit.
f.
Click [+] to expand the Disk Queue Length group.
g. Enter greater than 2 for the Statistic Warning Threshold, and then
click Submit.
5. Your new Windows Server 2003-2008 application monitor appears in the tree
view for the All Applications resource.
The polling results for the new monitor are updated after a few minutes.
Troubleshooting the Windows 2003-2008 Template.
Verify that you are entering the user name and password of an administratorlevel account. If you think you have entered an incorrect credential, correct the
mistake and then retest.
Verify that the monitored server allows remote WMI connections. Consult the
WMI Troubleshooting Guide if you are unsure whether the monitored server
allows remote WMI connections. The guide is available from:
http://www.solarwinds.com/support/apm/docs/APMWMITroubleshooting.pdf
For information about troubleshooting the Windows performance counters, refer
to the KB article “How can I troubleshoot SAM performance monitoring and
Windows performance counters?”:
http://knowledgebase.solarwinds.com/kb/questions/2139
Monitoring the Size of an SAM Directory
We need to create a new template to monitor the size of the directory
C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion\APM\SampleScriptMonitors on the
SAM server.
1. Log on to your SAM Web Console with an Administrator account.
2. Click the Applications tab.
3. Click SAM Settings.
4. Click Create a new template underneath Application Monitor Templates.
Using Server & Application Monitor 59
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
5. Type a name for your template in the Template Name field, for example
SolarWinds Directory Monitor.
6. Specify the values for the Polling Frequency and Polling Timeout fields.
Note: Setting a polling frequency below 30 seconds can result in erratic
monitor behavior.
7. If you want to turn on extended debug information to assist Customer
Support, expand Advanced and then turn Debug logging On and specify
the Number of log files to keep.
Note: Do not turn on Debug logging unless directed by Customer Support.
8. Click Add Component Monitor.
9. Expand the All Component Monitors category, check the box for Directory
Size Monitor, and then click Submit.
10. Enter the name of the directory you want to monitor in the Full Directory
Path field. For our example this is:
\\${IP}\C$\\Program
Files\SolarWinds\Orion\APM\SampleScriptMonitors
Note: When the monitor runs, the value for the variable ${IP} is set to the IP
address of the target node that is selected for monitoring. The value of C$ is
set to drive C. (The pathname shown above assumes you accepted the
default path during installation. If not, specify the correct path to the location
of your SolarWinds installation.)
11. Change the Statistic Warning Threshold to greater than 36000.
12. Change the Statistic Critical Threshold to greater than 37000.
Since the size of the directory is between 36000 and 37000, the status
should show as Warning.
13. Click Manually Assign Application Monitors.
14. Click Set test node.
15. Expand the tree view, select the SAM server, and then click Select.
16. Click Test.
17. If the test fails, see “Troubleshooting the SolarWinds Directory Monitor”.
18. If the test passes, click Submit.
19. In the Application Monitor Templates category, click Manage Templates.
20. Click All in the Select tag to filter by list.
60  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
21. Locate the SolarWinds Directory Monitor. Beneath the listed templates,
locate the Page control. Enter 4 in the Page control and click the >| icon to
go to page 4.
22. Click the check box next to SolarWinds Directory Monitor.
23. Click Assign to Node.
24. Expand the tree view and select the SAM server node which you tested the
script with in step 16.
25. Click Next.
26. Select sysadmin in the Credential Name field.
27. Click Test to confirm the credentials and component monitor against the test
node.
28. Click Assign Application Monitors.
29. Click Done.
30. Your new SolarWinds Directory Monitor appears in the tree view for the All
Applications resource.
The polling results for the new monitor are updated after a few minutes.
Troubleshooting the SolarWinds Directory Monitor
Verify that you are entering the user name and password of an administratorlevel account. If you think you have entered an incorrect credential, correct the
mistake and then retest.
Creating Custom SAM Reports
Using SAM Report Writer, you can create custom network monitoring reports. A
variety of predefined reports are also included . Icons preceding report names
distinguish available report types. The following procedure starts Report Writer.
Note: Before Report Writer can create useful reports SAM must have collected at
least a few minutes worth of data in the SAM database populated with the
network devices that you want to monitor.
To start Report Writer:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping >Report Writer.
2. Click File > Settings.
Using Server & Application Monitor 61
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
3. In the General tab of the Report Writer Settings window, select either of the
following as a default viewing mode:

Preview displays the report as it will appear in printed form. For more
information, see “Preview Mode” on page 62.

Report Designer is the report creation and editing interface. For more
information, see “Design Mode” on page 62.
Note: You can toggle between Preview and Report Designer modes at any
time by clicking Preview or Design, respectively, on the toolbar.
4. If you want to separate the data for individual network objects with
horizontal lines, click Report Style, and then check Display horizontal
lines between each row.
5. Click Ok to exit Report Writer Settings.
Preview Mode
Preview mode shows a report as it will print. When you open a report in Preview
mode, or switch to Preview mode from Design mode, SAM runs the query to
generate the report and Report Writer displays the results.
The Preview window toolbar provides the following actions and information:

Current page number and total number of pages in the report in the form
current# / total#

Page navigation buttons: First Page, Page Up, Page Down, and Last Page

Zoom views
Note: Double-click on a report preview to zoom in and double-right-click to
zoom out.

Print report
Design Mode
Use Design mode to create new reports and modify or rename existing reports.
The options available for both creating and modifying reports are the same.
Design mode options are also dynamic, based upon the type of report, included
report data, and report presentation. Available options differ according to the type
of report that you are designing, but all reports require that you select the data to
include and decide how that data will be sorted, ordered, filtered, and presented.
62  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Creating and Modifying Reports
The following procedure guides you in the creation and modification of reports in
Report Writer.
Notes:

The SQL query used to generate a report may be viewed in an additional tab.
Click Report > Show SQL to add a read-only SQL tab to the Design window.

A preview of your report is also available at any time. Click Preview to enter
Preview Mode, and then click Design to return to Design Mode.
To open a report with Report Writer:
1. If you want to modify an existing report, select an existing report from the
inventory in the left pane of the main Report Writer window.
2. If you want to create a new report, click File > New Report, select the type
of report that you would like to create, and then click OK.
The following sections provide procedures for formatting your reports in Design
mode. Each of the following sections corresponds to an available tab containing
report formatting options.
Note: Each report, depending on its type, offers unique options on separate tabs
of the Report Designer. Depending on the type of report, some of the following
formatting tabs may not be available.
General Options
The General tab opens by default and shows titling and display options that may
be configured as follows.
To configure General options:
1. Specify the Report Group, Report Title, Sub Title, and Description for
your report.
Note: If you use an existing report group name, the new report is added to
that existing group in the left pane of the main window.
2. Select the display Orientation of your report.
3. If you do not want to make this report available on your SAM Web
Console, clear Make this Report available from the SAM website.
Note: By default, most reports are made available for display in the SAM
Web Console. For more information, see “Customizing Views” in the
SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
Using Server & Application Monitor 63
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Select Fields Options
The Select Fields tab allows you to select the data fields either to include in a
new report or to modify in an existing report as follows.
To select and configure fields:
1. Click Select Fields. In the Select Fields tab, fields are chosen, sort orders are
established, and functions are specified.
2. If you are creating a new report or adding fields to an existing report,
click Browse (...), select Add a new field, and then dynamically define each
new report field as follows:
a. Click the asterisk after Field:, and then select the type of information you
want to include in the current report field.
b. If you want to sort the data in the current field, click the sort asterisk,
and then select a sort order.
c. If you want to perform an operation on the data in the current field,
click the function asterisk and select an operation.
3. If you are modifying an existing report, click the Field, sort, or function
that you want to change and select a new value as follows.
a. Click the asterisk after Field: and select the type of information that you
want to include in the current report field.
b. If you want to sort the data in the current field, click the sort asterisk
and select a sort order.
c. If you want to perform an operation on the data in the current field,
click the function asterisk and select an operation.
4. If you want to test your selections as you assemble your report, click
Execute SQL Query to view the current query results.
5. If you want to preview your report, click Preview to run the query and
display the results in Preview mode. Click Design in the toolbar to return to
the Design Mode window.
6. If you want to delete a field or rearrange the order of the fields that are
listed in your report, select a field, click Browse (...), and then select the
appropriate action.
Note: Unchecked fields are not displayed in your report, but their sort and
function configurations are retained.
64  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Filter Results Options
The Filter Results tab allows you to generate filter conditions for field data by
selecting appropriate descriptors from the linked context menus. Results filters
are configured as follows.
To configure results filters:
1. Click Browse (...), and then select from the following options:

Select Add a new elementary condition to generate a condition that is
based on a direct comparison of network object data fields.

Select Add a new advanced elementary condition to generate a
condition based on a comparison of device data fields and values.

Select Add a new complex condition to define a condition that filters
other defined conditions.

Select Delete current condition to remove a selected condition.

Select Move current condition forward or Move current condition
backward to change the order of your conditions accordingly.
Note: The lists of available linked descriptors are dynamically generated in
consideration of all other variables within the same condition. For more
information, see “Understanding Condition Groups” in the SolarWinds
Common Components Administrator Guide.
2. Check or clear individual filter conditions to enable or disable their
application, respectively, to your report.
Top XX Records Options
The Top XX tab allows you to limit the number of records that are shown in your
report to either a top number or a top percentage of all results. Top XX options
are configured as follows.
To configure Top XX records:
1. If you want to show all records in your report, select Show All Records.
2. If you want to specify a truncated list of eligible items for your report,
either select Show only the Top number Records or select Show the Top
percentage % of Records, and then provide number or percentage values.
Using Server & Application Monitor 65
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Time Frame Options
The Time Frame tab allows you to limit the scope of your report to a specific
period of time. Time Frame options are configured as follows.
To configure Time Frame options:
1. Select one of the following Time Frame options for your report:

Named Time Frame

Relative Time Frame

Specific Time Frame
2. Select or provide required values.
Notes:

If you receive a SQL Timeout error message, you may edit the timeout
setting in the SWNetPerfMon.db file. By default, this file is located in the
C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion directory

Since the Relative Time Frame is continuously variable, reports run
using it will likely show different results, even if they are run close
together in time.
Summarization Options
The Summarization tab allows you to generate summaries of your results over
specific periods of time. Summarization options are configured as follows.
To configure results summarization:
1. If you do not want to summarize your results, confirm that Do not
Summarize the Results is selected.
2. If you want to summarize your results over specific periods of time,
select Summarize the Results by Hour, Date, Month, etc and then select
the following:

Select the summarization period and then specify the location of the
summary field for your report.

Select a location for the Summary Date/Time field.
Report Grouping Options
The Report Grouping tab allows you to group results by field descriptor within
your report. Add, edit and delete report groups to organize the data in your
report. Establish and edit report groups as follows.
66  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
To add and edit report groups:
1. If you want to add a new report group, select a field from the list to define
your group, and then click Add Report Group to add your selected field to
the Report Groups list.
Note: Use up and down arrows to change the grouping order accordingly.
2. If you want to edit an existing report group, select the field from the
Report Groups list, and then click Edit Report Group.
3. The following options may be changed as needed:

The Group Header is the text that designates groups on your report.

The Web URL is the dynamic location of your published report with
respect to your SAM Web Console.

Font size, face, color, and background may all be modified by clicking
associated ellipses.

Alignment may be left, center, or right.

Check Transparent Background for better results with web reports.

Use the up and down arrows to change the grouping order accordingly.
Field Formatting Options
The Field Formatting tab allows you to customize the format of the various
results fields in your report. Field formatting options are configured as follows.
To format results fields:
1. Select the field that you want to format, and then edit labels and select
options as appropriate.
Notes:

Formatting options for each field may differ according to field data type.

Check Hidden Field to hide any field in your report.
2. If you want to view your changes at any time, click Preview.
Customizing the Header and Footer Image
The image that is displayed at the top and bottom of each report can be
changed. To add your company logo or any other image as the header and
footer image in your reports, rename your logo or custom image file as
ReportHeader.jpg, and then copy it to the SolarWinds\Orion folder.
Note: The image must be in JPEG format with a height of 150 pixels or less.
Using Server & Application Monitor 67
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Example of Report Creation
The following procedure generates an example report of component average
availability information over the previous week. The final report is sorted so that
the worst items are viewed last. Components are listed in order of decreasing
availability.
Open Report Writer by clicking Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion >
Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Report Writer.
Note: At any point during the creation of a report (or perhaps at many points),
you may save what you have done by clicking File > Save. The first time you
save you must give your report a filename or accept the default, which will be the
report title that you assign in the following procedure.
To generate an example report of component availability information:
1. Click File > New Report.
2. The example calls for a report on component availability over the past week,
so select SAM: Historical – Daily Component Availability, and then click
OK.
3. Type My Reports in the Report Group field.
4. Enter Last Week’s Component Availability as the Report Title.
5. Select Portrait for the paper orientation.
6. Click the Select Fields tab.
7. Click Browse (...), and then select Add a new field.
8. Click the Field asterisk, and then select Date/Time (Daily Component
Availability Filtering Only) > DateTime.
9. Click Browse (...), and then select Add a new field.
10. Click the Field asterisk, and then select Network Nodes > Node
Details >Node Name.
11. Click Browse (...), and then select Add a new field.
12. Click the Field asterisk, and then select Historical Daily Component
Availability > Application > Application Name.
13. Click Browse (...), and then select Add a new field.
14. Click the Field asterisk, and then select Historical Daily Component
Availability > Component > Component Name.
15. Click Browse (...), and then select Add a new field.
68  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
16. Click the Field asterisk, and then select Historical Daily Component
Availability > Component > ComponentAvailability.
17. On the line for Component Availability, click the function asterisk and then
select Average.
18. Click Preview to run the SQL query and view the report data in the Preview
window.
19. Click Design in the toolbar to return to design mode.
20. Click the Field Formatting tab.
21. Select DateTime from the field list.
22. Change the Column Header entry to Date/Time.
23. Select Application_Name from the field list.
24. Change the Column Header entry to Application Name.
25. Select Component_Name from the field list.
26. Change the Column Header entry to Component Name.
27. Select Average_of_ComponentAvailability from the field list.
28. Change the Column Header entry to Average Component Availability.
Note: Column widths are adjustable. To change a column width, place your
cursor on the column divider and drag it to a different position.
29. Click Preview to run the SQL query and view the report data in the Preview
window.
30. Click Design in the toolbar to return to design mode.
31. Click the Select Fields tab.
32. Click the sort asterisk on the Component Availability field line, and then
select descending.
33. Click Preview to run the SQL query and view the report data in the Preview
window.
34. Click Design in the toolbar to return to design mode.
35. Click the Time Frame tab.
36. Select Relative Time Frame, type 7 in the text field, and then select Days
from the list.
37. If you want to break down the report day-by-day, click the
Summarization tab and specify your choices.
Using Server & Application Monitor 69
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
38. If you want to filter your report, click the Filter Results tab and specify
filter rules.
39. Click File > Save to save your work.
Using SAM Alerts
An alert is a configurable response to the behavior of a monitored object. One of
the many powerful features of Server & Application Monitor is its ability to alert on
almost every aspect of your network. You can trigger responses when an alert is
generated and when it is resolved; you can create simple or complex conditions
under which an alert is triggered or reset; you can suppress alerts when a set of
simple or complex conditions exist; and you can create an escalation path that
triggers when an alert remains unresolved.
When monitoring your network, you can take advantage of SAM alerts to draw
attention to a number of issues, including the following:

Unexpected one-time or sustained high CPU load

Loss of available memory or insufficient hard drive space

Slow response time

Component status is critical
Both the triggering of an alert and the resetting of an alert can trigger a number of
actions, including the actions listed in the following table.
Note: Windows Server 2008 does not support Windows Net Messaging, so the
Send a Windows Net message alert action is not available to SAM installations
on Windows Server 2008.
SAM Alert Actions
Play a .wav sound
Log alerts to a file
Email a web page
Send SNMP traps
Paging or SMS
Send an email or page
Text-to-Speech output
Send a Syslog message
Execute an external program
Get or Post a URL
70  Using Server & Application Monitor
Log alerts to the Windows Event Log
Log alerts to the SAM Event Log
Send a Windows Net message
Execute an external VB script
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Configuring SAM Alerts
The following sections provide steps required to configure a few example alerts.
Component Status Alert
The following procedure creates a component status alert triggered when a
component’s status is Critical, and logs the alert to the NetPerfMon event log.
To set up this alert trigger condition:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click View > Configure Alerts.
3. Click New in the Manage Alerts window.
4. Type Alert me when a component goes critical in the Name of Alert field.
5. Click the Trigger Condition tab.
6. Select SAM: Component from the Type of Property to Monitor list.
7. Click Add, and then click Simple Condition from the shortcut menu.
8. Click the first asterisk (*) in the statement * is equal to *.
9. Point to SAM Component Monitors and then click Component Status in the
shortcut menu.
10. Click the remaining asterisk (*) in the statement Component Status is
equal to *.
11. Type Critical in the list box.
To set up the alert trigger action:
1. Click the Trigger Actions tab.
2. Click Add New Action.
3. Select Log the Alert to the NetPerfMon Event Log, and then click OK.
4. Type "The component " in the message field, and then click Insert Variable.
5. Select SAM:Component from the Variable Category list, select
ComponentName from the Select A Variable list, and then click Build
Selected Variable.
6. Type " of node " in the message field, and then click Insert Variable.
7. Select General from the Variable Category list, select NodeName from the
Select A Variable list, and then click Build Selected Variable.
8. Type " is " in the message field, and then click Insert Variable.
Using Server & Application Monitor 71
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
9. Select SAM:Component from the Variable Category list, select
ComponentStatus from the Select A Variable list, and then click Build
Selected Variable.
Note: The full message should read "The component ${ComponentName}
of node ${NodeName} is ${ComponentStatus}".
10. Click OK to close the Log Alert window.
11. Click OK to close the Edit Alert window.
12. Click Done to close the Manage Alerts window.
If any of your components go into a critical state, you will now see a line item for
each in the SAM Event Log.
High CPU Load Alert Example
The following procedure creates a high CPU load alert.
To configure a high CPU load alert:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click View > Configure Alerts.
3. Click New on the Manage Alerts window.
4. Type CPU Load High in the Name of Alert field on the General tab.
5. Provide an alert description in the Enter a description for this Alert field.
6. Check Enable this Alert.
7. Click the Trigger Condition tab.
8. Select Node from the Type of Property to Monitor list.
9. Click Add, and then select Simple Condition.
10. Click is equal to, and then select greater or equal.
11. Click the first *, and then click Network Nodes > Current CPU Memory >
CPU Load.
12. Click 0 after is greater than or equal to, and then type 80.
13. Click the Reset Condition tab.
14. Select Reset this alert when the following conditions are met.
Note: Configuring a reset condition ensures that stale alerts do not remain
prominent in your alert log.
15. Click Add, and then select Simple Condition.
72  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
16. Click is equal to, and then select less or equal.
17. Click the first *, and then click Network Nodes > Current CPU and
Memory > CPU Load.
18. Click 0 after is less than or equal to, and then type 70.
19. Click the Trigger Actions tab.
20. Click Add New Action.
21. Select your preferred means of notification, click OK, and then complete the
displayed tabs as appropriate.
Note: As an example, select Send an Email/Page, and then specify the
appropriate information on tabs of the Edit Email/Page Action window to
receive an email whenever the High CPU Load alert is triggered. For more
information about available alert actions, see “Available Advanced Alert
Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
22. After completing the configuration of your selected alert action, click OK.
23. If you want to specify an action to execute when this alert is reset,
complete the following steps:
Note: For more information about alert actions, see “Available Advanced
Alert Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
a. Click the Reset Actions tab.
b. Click Add New Action.
c. Select an action to execute when the alert is reset, and then click OK.
d. Complete the displayed tabs as appropriate, and then click OK.
24. Click OK when you are satisfied with the configuration of your alert.
Sustained High CPU Load Alert Example
The following procedure creates a sustained high CPU load alert.
Note: This alert differs from the High CPU Load Alert created in the previous
procedure in that the alert in this example procedure allows the triggering
condition to persist for an hour before the trigger action fires.
To configure a sustained high CPU load alert:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click View > Configure Alerts.
3. Click New on the Manage Alerts window.
Using Server & Application Monitor 73
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
4. Type CPU Load Sustained High in the Name of Alert field on the General
tab.
5. Provide an alert description in the Enter a description for this Alert field.
6. Check Enable this Alert.
7. Click the Trigger Condition tab, and then select Node from the Type of
Property to Monitor list.
8. Click Add, and then select Simple Condition.
9. Click is equal to, and then select greater or equal.
10. Click the first *, and then click Network Nodes > Current CPU and
Memory > CPU Load.
11. Click 0 after is greater than or equal to, and then type 80.
12. At the bottom of the window, next to Do not trigger this action until
condition exists for more than, type 1, and then select Hours.
13. Click the Trigger Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.
14. Select your preferred means of notification, click OK, and then complete the
displayed tabs as appropriate.
Note: As an example, select Send an Email/Page, and then specify the
appropriate information on tabs of the Edit Email/Page Action window to
receive an email whenever the High CPU Load alert is triggered. For more
information about available alert actions, see “Available Advanced Alert
Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
15. After completing the configuration of your selected alert action, click OK.
16. If you want to specify an action to execute when this alert is reset,
complete the following steps:
a. Click the Reset Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.
b. Select an action to execute when the alert is reset, and then click OK.
c. Complete the displayed tabs as appropriate, and then click OK.
Note: For more information, see “Available Advanced Alert Actions” in the
SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
17. Click OK when you are satisfied with the configuration of your alert.
74  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Sustained Loss of Available Memory Alert Example
The following procedure creates a sustained loss of available memory alert.
Note: This alert allows the low memory triggering condition to persist for 30
minutes before the configured trigger action fires.
To configure a loss of available memory alert:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click View > Configure Alerts, and then click New on the Manage Alerts
window.
3. Type Memory Low in the Name of Alert field on the General tab.
4. Check Enable this Alert.
5. Click the Trigger Condition tab, and then select Node from the Type of
Property to Monitor list.
6. Click Add, and then select Simple Condition.
7. Click is equal to, and then select less or equal.
8. Click the first *, and then click Network Nodes > Current CPU and
Memory > Percent Memory Available.
9. Click 0 after is less than or equal to, and then type 10.
10. At the bottom of the window, next to Do not trigger this action until
condition exists for more than, type 30, and then select Minutes.
11. Click the Trigger Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.
12. Select your preferred means of notification, click OK, and then complete the
displayed tabs as appropriate.
Note: As an example, select Send an Email/Page, and then specify the
appropriate information on tabs of the Edit Email/Page Action window to
receive an email whenever the High CPU Load alert is triggered. For more
information about available alert actions, see “Available Advanced Alert
Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
13. After completing the configuration of your selected alert action, click OK.
14. If you want to specify an action to execute when this alert is reset,
complete the following steps:
Using Server & Application Monitor 75
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Note: For more information about available alert actions, see “Available
Advanced Alert Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components
Administrator Guide.
a. Click the Reset Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.
b. Select an action to execute when the alert is reset, and then click Ok.
c. Complete the displayed tabs as appropriate, and then click Ok.
15. Click OK when you are satisfied with the configuration of your alert.
Insufficient Hard Drive Space Alert Example
The following procedure creates a low hard drive space alert.
To configure an insufficient hard drive space alert:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click View > Configure Alerts.
3. Click New on the Manage Alerts window.
4. Type Disk Space Low in the Name of Alert field on the General tab.
5. Check Enable this Alert.
6. Click the Trigger Condition tab, and then select Volume from the Type of
Property to Monitor list.
7. Click Add.
8. Select Simple Condition.
9. Click is equal to, and then select less or equal.
10. Click the first *, and then click Volumes > Volume Status > Volume
Percent Available.
11. Click 0 after is less than or equal to, and then type 5.
12. Click the Trigger Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.
13. Select your preferred means of notification, click Ok, and then complete the
displayed tabs as appropriate.
Note: As an example, select Send an Email/Page, and then specify the
appropriate information on tabs of the Edit Email/Page Action window to
receive an email whenever the High CPU Load alert is triggered. For more
information about available alert actions, see “Available Advanced Alert
Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
14. After completing the configuration of your selected alert action, click Ok.
76  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
15. If you want to specify an action to execute when this alert is reset,
complete the following steps:
Note: For more information about available alert actions, see “Available
Advanced Alert Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components
Administrator Guide.
a. Click the Reset Actions tab.
b. Click Add New Action.
c. Select an action to execute when the alert is reset, and then click OK.
d. Complete the displayed tabs as appropriate.
e. Click Ok.
16. Click Ok when you are satisfied with the configuration of your alert.
Sustained Slow Response Time Alert Example
The following procedure creates a sustained slow response time alert.
Note: This alert allows the slow response time triggering condition to persist for
10 minutes before the configured trigger action fires.
To configure a sustained slow response time alert:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click View > Configure Alerts.
3. Click New on the Manage Alerts window.
4. Type Response Time Slow in the Name of Alert field on the General tab.
5. Check Enable this Alert.
6. Click the Trigger Condition tab.
7. Select Node from the Type of Property to Monitor list.
8. Click Add.
9. Select Simple Condition.
10. Click is equal to, and then select greater or equal.
11. Click the first *, and then click Network Nodes > Current Response Time >
Response Time.
Using Server & Application Monitor 77
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
12. Click 0 after is greater than or equal to, and then type 150.
Note: Response time is measured in milliseconds.
13. At the bottom of the window, next to Do not trigger this action until
condition exists for more than, type 10, and then select Minutes.
14. Click the Trigger Actions tab.
15. Click Add New Action.
16. Select your preferred means of notification, click OK, and then complete the
displayed tabs as appropriate.
Note: As an example, select Send an Email/Page, and then specify the
appropriate information on tabs of the Edit Email/Page Action window to
receive an email whenever the High CPU Load alert is triggered. For more
information about available alert actions, see “Available Advanced Alert
Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
17. After completing the configuration of your selected alert action, click OK.
18. If you want to specify an action to execute when this alert is reset,
complete the following steps:
Note: For more information about available alert actions, see “Available
Advanced Alert Actions” in the SolarWinds Common Components
Administrator Guide.
a. Click the Reset Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.
b. Select an action to execute when the alert is reset, and then click OK.
c. Complete the displayed tabs as appropriate, and then click OK.
19. Click OK when you are satisfied with the configuration of your alert.
Viewing Alerts in the SAM Web Console
Once you have configured alerts in SAM, the SAM Web Console provides both
an Alerts view and alerts resources that you can use to continuously monitor the
status of your network and its devices. The following sections provide the steps
required to use alerts for immediate notification of potential problems on your
network.
Using the Alerts View
SAM provides the Alerts view on the Views toolbar, allowing you to quickly
review all triggered alerts on your network. The following procedure configures
the Alerts view to display the specific alerts you need to see at any time. For
more information about alerts in SAM, see “Using SAM Advanced Alerts” in the
SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
78  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
To use the Alerts view to review network alerts:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the web console as an administrator, and then click Home > Alerts.
Note: The example alerts created in the “Using SAM Alerts” section on
page 70 are all advanced alerts.
3. If you want to limit the list of alerts to only those dealing with a single
device, select the specific device from the Network Object list.
Note: This option is only available if SAM has fired alerts on multiple network
devices.
4. If you want to limit the list of alerts to only those dealing with a single
type of device, select the specific device type from the Type of Device list.
Note: This option is only available if SAM is monitoring multiple types of
network devices.
5. If you want to limit the list of alerts to only those of a single type, select
the specific alert name from the Alert Name list.
Note: This option is only available if SAM has fired multiple types of alerts.
The Alerts view shows all alerts matching your provided criteria. For each alert,
the Alerts view provides the time the alert was triggered, the network device and
object that triggered the selected alert, the measure value that triggered the alert,
and any message associated with the triggered alert.
Adding the Active Alerts Resource to SAM Web Console Views
SAM provides the Active Alerts resource for use in SAM Web Console views,
allowing you to tailor your views of alerts to specific devices on your network. The
following steps add the Active Alerts resource to SAM Web Console views.
To add the Active Alerts resource to an SAM Web Console view:
1. Log in to the Web Console as an administrator, and then click Settings in the
top right of the web console.
2. Click Manage Views in the Views grouping.
3. Click the view to which you want to add the Active Alerts resource, and then
click Edit.
Note: The scope of an Active Alerts resource is limited by the scope of the
view in which the Active Alerts resource displays. For example, if you add an
Active Alerts resource to a Node Details view, the added Active Alerts
resource only displays alerts relevant to the viewed node. In the same way,
the Active Alerts resource in the SAM Summary Home view displays all
active alerts on your entire network.
Using Server & Application Monitor 79
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
4. Click + next to the view column in which you want to display the Active Alerts
resource.
5. Click + next to Alerts – Defined and Triggered Alerts to expand the list of
available alerts resources.
6. Check Active Alerts, and then click Submit.
7. Click Done.
80  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Additional SAM Features
SAM provides a number of additional tools and features that can enhance your
ability to fully monitor the performance of your network. The following sections
provide brief descriptions of these additional tools and features.
New VMware Template and Wizard

New VMware Template is provided to monitor common VMware
Performance Counters using the VMware API. For more information about
the new VMware Template, see the section “VMware Template” in the
SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

New options provided for “Browse for Component Monitors” to monitor
VMware performance counters with a wizard using the VMware API. For
more information about monitoring the VMware performance counters, see
the section “Monitoring VMware Performance Counters” in the SolarWinds
Application Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
New / Updated Component Monitors

New Service Status – SNMP monitor to provide the status of a service using
SNMP. For more information about monitoring service status using SNMP,
see the section “Service Status - SNMP” in the SolarWinds Application
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

New VMware Performance Counter Monitor to monitor counters using the
VMware API. For more information about monitoring VMware performance
counters, see the section “VMware Performance Counter Monitor” in the
SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

New Windows PowerShell Monitor supports running a Windows PowerShell
script on the SAM server and then processing the script's exit code and text
output. For more information about using the Windows PowerShell Monitor,
see the section “Windows PowerShell Monitor” in the SolarWinds Application
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

Updated Process Monitor – WMI and Windows Service Monitor now provide
an RPC alternative to WMI communications. For more information about the
RPC alternative, see the sections “Process Monitor - WMI” and “Windows
Service Monitor” in the SolarWinds Application Performance Monitor
Administrator Guide.
Using Maps in SAM
SolarWinds Network Atlas is a powerful tool for creating custom maps and
network diagrams. The maps created in SolarWinds Network Atlas enable users
to view a graphical depiction of their network in the SAM Web Console. You can
Using Server & Application Monitor 81
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
also use the maps to create network documentation, which can then be printed
and exported as needed. Creating a map can be as simple as selecting a
background image, dragging nodes to the image, and connecting them with a
few lines. However, Network Atlas presents options enabling you to be as
creative as you like. For more information about creating network maps for use
with SAM, see the SolarWinds Network Atlas Administrator Guide.
Monitoring VMware ESX Servers
SAM gives you the ability to monitor the performance of VMware ESX servers,
including VMware ESXi servers, and the multiple virtual machines (VMs) hosted
by ESX servers on your network. Available resources include lists of VMs on
selected ESX servers, performance details for ESX servers and hosted VMs, and
relevant alerts, charts and reports. For more information about monitoring
VMware ESX Servers, see “Monitoring VMware Devices” in the SolarWinds
Common Components Administrator Guide.
Using Custom Properties in SAM
SAM provides the Custom Property Editor, allowing you to add custom properties
to any node or volume. Custom properties are additional fields, such as country,
asset tag, or serial number that you can define and store in your Server &
Application Monitor database. Once properties are added, they are available for
display and filtering within the SAM Web Console and other SolarWinds
applications. For more information about custom properties, see “Creating
Custom Properties” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator
Guide.
Using Groups and Dependencies in SAM
Groups and dependencies enable you to more effectively manage your network.
Groups give you the ability to logically organize monitored objects, regardless of
device type or location, and dependencies allow you to more faithfully represent
what can actually be known about your network, eliminating “false positive” alert
triggers and providing more accurate insight into the status of your monitored
network objects. For more information about groups and dependencies, see
“Managing Groups and Dependencies” in the SolarWinds Common Components
Administrator Guide.
Using SNMP Traps in SAM
The SAM Trap Viewer application is used in SAM to configure alerts, view and
search trap messages, and to apply rules to filter out certain types of messages.
Because the SolarWinds Trap service has the ability to open multiple
connections to the SQL server database, it can handle large quantities of
incoming trap messages. For more information about using SNMP traps in SAM,
82  Using Server & Application Monitor
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
see “Monitoring SNMP Traps” in the SolarWinds Common Components
Administrator Guide.
Using Syslog Messaging in SAM
The SAM Syslog Server allows the Application Performance Monitor to receive
and process Syslog messages from any type of device. Syslog messages are
realtime messages that network devices generate to notify about a specific event
within the device. The Syslog Viewer is used to configure alerts, to view and
search Syslog messages, and to apply rules to filter out certain types of
messages. Because the Syslog service has the ability to open multiple
connections to your SQL server, it can handle large numbers of simultaneously
incoming Syslog messages. For more information about using Syslog messaging
in SAM, see “Monitoring Syslog Messages” in the SolarWinds Common
Components Administrator Guide.
Using Server & Application Monitor 83
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Chapter 5
Monitoring Your Network with SAM
You can begin seeing meaningful network monitoring and management benefits
from your installation of SAM in an hour or less. The following sections introduce
some of the network monitoring abilities that come standard with an installation of
SAM. After completing these quick introductions, you will be able to take
advantage of the following core capabilities of SAM:

Real time performance charts and gauges.

Node and application response and availability monitoring.

Real bandwidth usage measurement.

Powerful status and performance reporting.
The following cases are explored in the order of run time, that is, the amount of
time you need to have SAM running to see representative results.
1. Network performance monitoring is covered in the section “Monitoring
Network Performance”, on page 85, with results available in approximately 1
hour.
2. Server management is detailed in the section “Managing Your Servers”, on
page 88, with results available in approximately 1 hour.
3. Network availability monitoring is described in the section “Diagnosing
Network Availability”, on page 89, with meaningful results generally available
in approximately 1 week.
4. Long-term trend analysis is covered in the section “Analyzing Usage Trends”,
on page 91, with meaningful results viewable in approximately 3 months.
Note: After installing SAM, the polling engines create a baseline by collecting
status and statistics immediately, and then collecting them again 30 seconds
later. You may notice an increase in your CPU usage during this time. After this
initial collection, SAM collects network data by default every 5 minutes for
applications, every10 minutes for nodes, and every 15 minutes for volumes.
Monitoring Network Performance
Once SAM is properly configured to show network performance data, a primary
use case is the generation of charts and reports to confirm compliance with
current service level agreements (SLAs).The following sections provide
procedures showing steps to start monitoring your network with SAM.
Monitoring Your Network with SAM  85
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Viewing Node and Application Charts and Gauges
The following procedure guides you through locating and viewing the charts and
gauges that are immediately helpful when monitoring network performance.
Notes:

For more information about viewing SAM resources in addition to the
defaults described in the following procedure, see “Customizing Views”
in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.

Clicking a gauge allows you to view a customizable chart of the collected
data over time. Clicking a chart allows you to customize the time period,
sample interval, and chart size, among other options.

If a resource displays No Data for Selected Time Period, SAM
has not had sufficient time under the current settings to collect
meaningful data for the viewed resource. Click Edit in the resource
header, and then select smaller values for both the Time Period for
Chart and Sample Interval options.
To view node charts and gauges:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the Web Console as an administrator and click the HOME tab.
3. Expand a node grouping in the All Nodes resource of the SAM Summary
Home page, and then click the node you want to explore.
4. Review the resulting Node Details page, ensuring you pay close attention to
the following ICMP-based near-realtime gauges, statistical gauges, and
statistical charts:

Average Response Time & Packet Loss gauge

Average Response Time & Packet Loss statistical chart

CPU Load & Memory Utilization gauge showing the last polled values

Min/Max Average CPU Load statistical chart
5. If you navigated away from your Node Details page, click Home in the
Views toolbar to return to the SAM Summary Home page, and then expand
and select a node in the All Nodes resource on the SAM Summary Home
page.
6. Click Reports in the Views toolbar.
7. Expand Current Node Status.
8. Click Current Status of each Node.
86  Monitoring Your Network with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
9. Locate the nodes you are managing and review the Status statistics.
10. If you want a hard copy of the currently viewed report, complete the
following steps:
a. Click Printable Version in the upper right corner of the web console
view.
b. Click File > Print.
c. Configure print options.
d. Click Print.
To view application charts and gauges:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the Web Console as an administrator and click the APPLICATIONS
tab.
3. Expand a node in the All Applications resource of the SAM Application
Summary Home page, expand the application, and then click the assigned
application monitor you want to explore.
4. Review the resulting Application Details page, ensuring you pay close
attention to the following ICMP-based statistical charts:

Application Availability statistical chart

CPU Load & Memory statistics chart

Components statistical chart
Viewing Network Performance Reports
The following procedure guides you through locating and viewing the SAM
reports that are immediately helpful when monitoring network performance.
Note: For more information about viewing and creating reports, see “Creating
and Modifying Reports” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator
Guide.
To view SAM reports:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the SAM Web Console using an account with administrative
privileges.
3. Click Reports in the Views toolbar.
4. Click [+] next to the type of report you want to view.
Monitoring Your Network with SAM  87
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
5. Click the title of any report that you want to view.
Note: Depending on the length of time that SAM has been monitoring your
network, some reports may not return useful results. For example, if you
have just installed SAM and added nodes today, reports covering time
periods prior to today may not return useful information. SolarWinds
recommends you tailor SAM reports to match desired monitoring periods as
closely as possible. For more information, see “Creating and Modifying
Reports” in the SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
6. If you want a hard copy of the currently viewed report, click Printable
Version in the upper right corner of the web console view, click File > Print,
configure print options, and then click Print.
SAM reports viewed in the web console are interactive. Clicking any report
heading toggles column values into ascending or descending order, and clicking
any device opens the corresponding Device Details view in the web console.
Managing Your Servers
You can see the benefits of using SAM to monitor network servers in as little as
an hour of network monitoring. Before continuing, confirm that your SAM
database includes any and all of the following objects on your network:

Windows servers and workstations

VMware ESX servers

Linux, Solaris, HPUX, AIX, and AIS servers

Microsoft Exchange and SQL Servers
For more information about adding network devices to your SAM database, see
“Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console” on page 48.
Viewing Server Management Charts and Reports
The following procedure guides you through locating and reviewing the charts
and gauges that are immediately helpful when managing mission-critical servers.
To review server management charts and reports:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the Web Console. The default user is admin with a blank password.
3. Expand a node grouping in the All Nodes section of the SAM Summary
Home view, and then click a server you want to explore.
88  Monitoring Your Network with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
4. Review the resulting Node Details page, ensuring you pay close attention to
the following resources:

Average Response Time & Packet Loss gauge

Average Response Time & Packet Loss chart

CPU Load & Memory Utilization gauge

Min/Max Average CPU Load chart
Notes:

Consider using this data to ensure you comply with your current service
level agreements (SLAs).

Clicking a gauge allows you to view customizable chart of the collected
data over time. Clicking a chart allows you to customize the time period,
sample intervals, among other data points.
5. If you navigated away from your Node Details page, click the Network
Performance Monitor tab to return to the SAM Summary Home view, and
then expand and select a node in the All Nodes section of the SAM Summary
Home page.
6. Click Reports on the menu bar.
7. Expand SAM: Current Application and Component Status.
8. Click Current Status of each Component.
9. Locate the components you are managing and review their current status.
Diagnosing Network Availability
The benefits of diagnosing network availability with Server & Application Monitor
become apparent in approximately one week. Before continuing, confirm that
your SAM database includes all of the desired nodes and applications on your
network.
For more information about adding objects to your SAM database, see
“Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console” on page 48.
Viewing Network Availability Charts and Reports
The following procedure guides you through locating and reviewing the charts
and reports that deal with network availability analysis and trends.
To view network availability charts and reports:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
Monitoring Your Network with SAM  89
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
2. Log in to the SAM Web Console and click the HOME tab.
3. Expand a node grouping in the All Nodes section of the SAM Summary
Home view, and then click a server you want to explore.
4. Review the resulting Node Details page, ensuring that you pay close
attention to the following resources:

Average Response Time & Packet Loss chart showing the last 7 days of
data

Availability Statistics table
5. Click Reports on the menu bar.
6. Expand SAM: Daily Application Availability.
7. Click Application Availability – This Month.
8. Review the report.
9. Click Reports on the menu bar.
10. Expand Daily Node Availability.
11. Click Availability – This Month.
12. Review the report.
13. Click Reports on the menu bar.
14. Expand Availability.
15. Click Availability – Last Year.
16. Review the report.
Configuring Key Network Availability Alerts
Using the alert configuration procedures detailed in the “Using SAM Alerts”
section on page 70 as guides, consider configuring the following alerts with a
trigger action that pages the appropriate operator:

Node status, application status, or volume status is equal to down

Alert based on the receipt of a specific SNMP trap. Use the Trap Viewer to
configure these alerts. For more information about receiving traps with SAM,
see “Monitoring SNMP Traps” in the SolarWinds Common Components
Administrator Guide.

Alert based on the receipt of a specific Syslog message. Use the Syslog
Viewer to configure these alerts. For more information about receiving traps
with SAM, see “Monitoring Syslog Messages” in the SolarWinds Common
Components Administrator Guide.
90  Monitoring Your Network with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
For more information about alerts, see “Using SAM Advanced Alerts” in the
SolarWinds Common Components Administrator Guide.
Analyzing Usage Trends
Using SAM to analyze trends on your network requires an extended period of
time to collect enough data to generate useful charts and reports. In 3 months,
the amount of data collected by SAM should be sufficient to see real trends and
predict possible capacity shortfalls. Before continuing, confirm that your SAM
database includes the following objects on your network:

All network nodes and servers (Unix and Windows).

All node resources, including CPU, memory, and volumes.

All network applications.
For more information about adding network devices to your SAM database, see
“Managing Devices in the SAM Web Console” on page 48.
Viewing Useful Node Trend Resources
The SAM Web Console provides many useful resources that can help you
recognize trends and bottlenecks at the node level. The following charts and
gauges are available as resources within SAM Web Console views:

Average Response Time & Packet Loss chart

Min/Max/Average CPU Load chart

CPU Load & Memory Utilization gauges
Note: Optimize the ability of charts to display longer time periods by clicking Edit
in the resource header to customize each chart as you require.
SAM also provides reports that can help you recognize trends and bottlenecks at
the node level on your network. The following node-level reports, available by
clicking Reports in the Views toolbar, track node trends:

Availability reports

Historical Response Time reports
Monitoring Your Network with SAM  91
Quick Start Guide  SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

Historical CPU and Memory reports

Historical Traffic reports
Viewing Useful Volume Capacity Resources
The SAM Web Console provides many useful resources that can help you
recognize trends and problems at the volume level. The following volume-level
charts are available as resources within SAM Web Console views:

Average Disk Space Used chart -- customized to display longer time periods

Percent Disk Space Used chart – customized to display longer time periods
SAM also provides Historical Volume Usage reports that can help you recognize
trends and problems at the volume level on your network. Historical Volume
Usage reports are available by clicking Reports in the Views toolbar.
92  Monitoring Your Network with SAM
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor  Quick Start Guide
Viewing Useful Application and Component Resources
The SAM Web Console provides many useful resources that can help you
recognize trends and bottlenecks at the application and component level. The
following charts and gauges are available as resources within SAM Web Console
views:

Application Details view – Application Availability resource

Component Details view:

o
Component Availability (common resource for all monitor types)
o
MIN/MAX Average Statistic Data (for monitors which support this kind of
statistic)
o
MIN/MAX Average Response Time (for monitors which support this kind
of statistic)
o
MIN/MAX Average CPU Load (Windows service/process monitors)
o
MIN/MAX Average Physical Memory (Windows service/process
monitors)
o
MIN/MAX Average Virtual Memory (Windows service/process monitors).
Group view – create a group with several applications and then use the
Availability Chart resource. With this technique you can see Availability
trends for several applications at the same time.
Monitoring Your Network with SAM  93